Not Exactly Hate
by Li0ness
Summary: Hermione will attend Venificus Trellum Academy for the Gifted for one semester! It's an elite school that only accepts the best of the best. She accepts the offer in hopes to learn many new things. What a dream come true! Wait...What? Malfoy's coming too!
1. The Invitation

Not Exactly Hate

Chapter One: The Invitation

Hermione woke up to the sound of twittering birds just outside her window. She wished she was allowed to do magic over the summer, she would have shut those stupid birds up for waking her so early.

She tumbled clumsily out of bed to get dressed then walked over to her wardrobe and quickly picked out something to wear. Today Hermione was going to Diagon Alley to meet Harry and the Weasley's.

She hadn't seen them for most of the summer. Her parents took her on a surprise trip to Paris. They had been with her all summer; apparently they felt like they were going to lose their little girl soon, since she was going into her seventh year at Hogwarts. Therefore throughout the summer she was either out sightseeing with them, at some sort of fancy restaurant with them for dinner, watching movies together, or planning for the next day. To make it even more annoying her mum had gotten it into her head that Hermione was a "boring dresser" so she spent a lot of time being dragged off to shopping malls trying on, what seemed like the whole shop. She knew she should be happy that she had such caring parents, she loved them and everything, but they wouldn't leave her alone! The last few days of their holiday was one of the worse Hermione had ever had! She was glad when an owl came from Mrs. Weasley inviting her over to the Burrow for the last week of summer.

Hermione looked at herself in her full-sized mirror. She was wearing a white tank top under a light pink hoodie, long blue jeans, and white shoes. She wrinkled her nose at her impossible light brown hair. It was as bushy as always. She ran a brush through her hair with much difficulty, and tied it in a high ponytail, figuring that it was much better than letting it stay in an unruly mass. Pushing away the strands of hair that tended to come lose out of her face, Hermione headed to the downstairs for breakfast.

In the sunlit kitchen her dad was reading the paper, while her mum was making breakfast. "Good morning dear!" her mum exclaimed. Lately, she always greeted Hermione as though she hadn't seen her in four years.

They all looked at the kitchen window to see an official looking bird with a letter clamped safely in its mouth. "Oh!" Mrs. Granger exclaimed. She hurried over to the window, and took the letter from the owl. She opened it quickly, Hermione knew that her mum was eager to see if Hermione had been made Head Girl or not. She let out a squeal of delight. "Congratulations! You're Head Girl!"

Hermione's jaw dropped. She didn't know why it was such a shock. After all she was expecting this, and Dumbledore all but told her this was going to happen. She quickly gobbled down her food the, she had to tell Harry and Ron. Hermione was so eager; she haphazardly threw her letter into her purse, not noticing that there was another piece of paper in her envelope marked "urgent"!

xoxo

Hermione walked into the Leakey Cauldron with a sigh of freedom. She looked around the pub. She loved Paris and everything, but since her parents kept her in constant watch she wasn't able to go to the magical side there. She missed being able to do magic, since she finished her homework before they arrived there she had little contact with the Wizarding World.

She spotted the Weasley's famous red hair almost instantly. They were sitting near the back. Hermione noticed how Harry's raven black hair stood out so dramatically against Ron, Fred, George, and Ginny's scarlet.

Ginny spotted her first. "Hi Hermione!" She said as she got up to greet her. "Hi Gin, I missed you!" Hermione said, giving Ginny a hug. "Hey!" Ron exclaimed. "What about me!" He stood up to give Hermione a hug, but Harry pushed passed him before he could. "What about you?" He said, wrapping his arms around Hermione before Ron could reach her. Hermione laughed, she pulled away from Harry and turned to Ron. Hermione noticed how tall he had gotten. She looked into his eyes. She loved them, they were his best feature; sea blue with hints of green. He wrapped his arms around her waist and Hermione instantly knew that this hug was different than the ones they shared in the past. She seemed to be more _aware _his body pressed against hers. A soft tingling sensation rose in her. "I missed you," he whispered so softly that Hermione almost failed to notice it. She raised herself on her toes to whisper back too him, "I missed you too"

"Hey you two get a room!" Fred said. Hermione and Ron broke away to see everyone looking at them. Hermione blushed; she hadn't realized how long they took. She and Ron sat down next to each other.

The other occupants of the booth shared a knowing glance. "So, how was your summer Hermione?" Harry asked. "It was a nightmare!" Hermione replied. She knew that whining was very child-like, but she had no one to talk to _all_ summer, she had to dump her problems on someone else before she exploded. "The food on the flight tasted like plastic, I didn't get to go to a single bookstore for more that five minutes because both my parents were with me practically every second of the waking hours, my mum made me go _shopping _forever and bought me a whole bunch of clothes, all of which are various shades of pink, and the food on the flight back tasted like _old _plastic!" She said that all in practically one breath. She took a deep breath and looked around to see everyone giving her weird looks. "Your just a little ray of sunshine aren't you Hermione?" George asked her.

She was going to reply but was interrupted by Ginny, "so were you made Head Girl or not?" she demanded. "Yep!" she replied cheerfully, I got my letter this morning!" Everyone congratulated Hermione. Fred sighed and said, "so many jokes to little time!" "Ya," George agreed " we'll make fun of you later Hermione, we got to get back to work, you too Ginny." Hermione turned to Ginny. "You got a job at the joke shop," she asked. Ginny smiled "Ya, it's really fun! You should drop by, seeya!" She followed the twins out of the pub, leaving Harry, Ron, and Hermione alone.

"So that's it?" Ron asked suddenly. "What do you mean?" Hermione said, surprised. "Oh ya!" Harry said, as if he just remembered something. "Ever since the summer started everyone has been talking about something special that's supposed to take place this year," Harry told her. "Well what is it?" Hermione asked. Ron looked annoyed and said "well that's just it! We have no idea!" Harry nodded and said, "They're acting just like how they were before the Triwizard Tournament." Hermione looked thoughtful for a moment. Then she said, "Well that time it was top secret. Only people in the Ministry knew about it. What makes you think I know something?" "Something Dumbledore said the other day." Harry said, "Something about the "event" being for the Head Boy and Girl and that we would find out when you find out."

"Did it say something about it in the letter you got"? Ron asked her, eager to know what everyone had been so secretive about. _No, _Hermione thought and pulled out her letter When she opened the envelope and saw a piece of parchment that she hadn't noticed before. She opened it and read. Harry and Ron watched impatiently, as Hermione's eyes grew wider and wider as she read the letter. She finished and looked up at them in awe._ "Well?"_ Ron demanded. Since she didn't look capable of speaking Harry took the letter from her hands and read it, Ron looking over his shoulder.

The letter read:

_Dear Miss Granger,_

_You have reached amazing heights in your years at Hogwarts. I congratulate you for your achievements and success in helping Harry Potter defeat Voldemort this last year. Therefore I, Professor Malligo R. Morissey invite you to attend a semester of your seventh year at Venificus Trellum Academy for the Gifted. _

_Venificus Trellum is a school that has the necessary tools you need to train the particular level if magic that you have reached. Upon accepting this invitation you will be able to attend highly advanced classes with the student already attending the school. This opportunity will enhance your magical abilities very dramatically. You will be getting a very hands-on method of learning magic. This school has prided itself for training some of the best sorcerers of all time! _

_Your Head Master, Albus Dumbledore has been informed, and approves of this invitation. While it is highly recommended that you attend a semester's worth of training at Venificus Trellum, it is not required of you to go._

_Additional information about the school has been enclosed. Term starts September 1st. Your reply must be sent in by August 30th. We hope to see you soon._

_Sincerely,_

_Malligo R. Morissey _

(Head Master of Venificus Trellum, Order of Merlin First Class, Grand Sorcerer Recognition, and Wizard World Record for having the Largest Chocolate Frog Card Collection)

Harry and Ron finished reading and looked back at Hermione. A deafening silence fell upon the three friends as they thought about how this would affect not just Hermione, but all three of them.

xoxo

Draco Stared up at his canopy. He stalled going downstairs where he would be met by Pansy. She had been hanging around the manor more and more throughout the summer. It was one of the worse summers Draco could ever recall having. That included the summer of The Incident in Paris. Draco shuddered. It was so horribly embarrassing that he felt it necessary to capitalize it.

Figuring that he might as well get the worst over with, Draco got out of bed with a distinct feeling that today would be very interesting.

He took a quick shower, wondering if his letter would come today. He really wanted to know if he got that Head Boy position. Or maybe stupid Potty or the Weasel took it from him. It would have been obvious that it was only because they were Dumbledore's favorite students. He might as well just give up hope.

He picked out all black to wear, as usual, and went downstairs to meet his mother for breakfast. Surprisingly, She was alone, Pansy was no where to be seen.

His mother mist have seen the surprise on his face because she said, "She not here, she's sick. She must have caught something while she was waiting for you outside the boy's loo at that festival you ditched her at." Her voice was disapproving and stern. "Draco, I know she's tragically dim-witted, but must you be so mean to her?" Draco stalked over to the far end of the huge table to where his mother was sitting at the head, where his father used to sit.

He sat down at her right and said "Yes mother, I do have to be horrible to her, because no matter what I say the girl doesn't understand that all I want her to do is sod off!"

"Mind your tongue! You know, your father had high hopes for the two of you. After all, you did take her to the Yule Ball fourth year."

"That was _years _ago and I haven't asked her to a single one since then!

"Yes, I know dear, but that one was so _public. _The press was there and everything! And it doesn't hurt that she's a pureblood. I can't stand her either though. She's always sucking up to me like a fiancé would to her mother-in-law, as if I would ever accept such an unfortunate waste of good blood.

"If you don't like her either then why are you so keen on us going out?"

"To fulfill your father's wishes, I suppose. He was sure you two would marry… but I guess there's no reason for that now is there?" she gave Draco a half hearted smile.

Draco didn't say anything, him and his mom barely ever talked about Lucius since he got the life sentence in Azkaban after the war. Narcissa smiled then.

"Oh yes, I've just remembered! Draco, you remember Nicole Golden from Paris don't you?"

Draco cringed; she was the reason of the summer of The Incident. If he never saw her again, it would be too soon.

"She's coming to Hogwarts this year! Isn't that lovely? I know you two had so much fun that summer we went to Paris!"

Draco looked at his mother, horrified. "You're not serious? Mother, you know we hated each others guts! We were always out to get each other! She hates me!"

"Oh come now, that was a long time ago! She's really grown up to be a beautiful young lady. The Golden bloodline is almost as pure as ours! She would be perfect for you!"

"If you mean perfect to kill me, and make it seem like it was an accident!"

His mom seemed to want to protest but was cut off by their house elf, Tippy.

"Excuse me, but a letter just arrived from Hogwarts for you sir" he said giving Draco his letter.

Draco swiftly tore up the letter, and was scanning its contents in a matter of seconds.

He looked up with a puzzled look.

"What the hell is Venificus Trellum?"

xoxo

review if u liked it, and if u didnt, tell me what i did wrong please!


	2. Realization

Chapter Two:

Realization

Hermione walked to the headmaster's office, very well aware that she was probably the only student in Hogwarts. Dumbledore had requested a meeting with her to discuss her semester away.

After reading the letter Hermione had been so flattered to be chosen that she didn't even notice the horrified looks Ron and Harry exchanged. They seemed so apprehensive about the program; they even tried to talk her out of it! But there was no way she could say no. This was what she was dreamed of, studying abroad to further challenge, and gain a better sense about this world that she had been accepted into just a few years ago.

She said the password and stepped into the rotating stairs leading up to the Headmaster's office. This was the first time Hermione had ever been in there and was surprised at its grand size. She had heard Harry describe it before, but it was a different experience seeing it for herself.

"Miss Granger, I see that you've arrived safely, please come in and we'll get started. Hermione looked to see Dumbledore sitting at the far end of the room. He wasn't alone, in one of the two chairs in front of the desk, sat a boy with platinum blonde hair.

"Malfoy?" she exclaimed. He looked back at her, just as horror stricken as she was.

"What is _he _doing here!"

"What is _she _doing here!"

They both cried at Dumbledore, as if accusing him of setting them up. He looked at them with a mildly amused look.

"If you would both sit and calm down, I'll explain."

Draco shot her a loathing glare as she took a seat next to him. Hermione did her best to ignore him and tried to concentrate on whatever Dumbledore had to say.

"Let me start by saying that I am very proud of you two. Both of you have amazing magical abilities."

Hermione's eyes widened in realization, and suddenly dreaded what the Headmaster had to say.

"Both of you have been chosen to attend Venificus Trellum to represent Hogwarts in an esteemed program that hasn't been offered in _years-"_

"Wait a minute; your not seriously saying that Granger's coming too, are you?" Draco cried pointing at Hermione in disdain.

"Oh like this will be some sort of a picnic for me?" Hermione snapped, irritated that Dumbledore actually thought it wise to stick them together for two months!

Dumbledore looked at them warily. "Nobody is forcing any of you to go. If you seriously think that you won't be able to work with each other this coming semester, let alone _tolerate _each other, then I will understand if you just left now. There's the door." He paused and looked them both in the eye, patiently waiting to see if they would take his offer.

They didn't.

"Good, then there wont be any more problems?" Dumbledore asked, looking at the two of them critically.

A chorus of "No sir" issued from Draco and Hermione, and they both fell silent as Dumbledore continued to brief them on the trip although he might as well have been talking to himself because neither of his students was paying attention. Instead they had taken to silent fuming and shooting occasional glares at each other.

They were broken out of this routine when Dumbledore cleared his throat. Their heads snapped up, remembering where they were.

"I can see none of this is sinking in, so we'll just have to resume this tomorrow. Tonight you will be spending the night in the Head dorms, tomorrow; the carriages will be outside promptly at 8 o'clock to board the train which will take you to the castle. Professor McGonagall will accompany you and tell you your duties again, since you clearly weren't paying attention just now." He ended in a note of finality leaving no room for anything else to be said.

Hermione immediately regretted not paying attention before. She couldn't believe she let the stupid ferret get to her like that. She and Draco got up to leave. Draco got to the door first and to her surprise, held it open for her. Maybe she would be able to tolerate being in the same dorm as him. It was only for two months.

"By the way. Mr. Malfoy, Ms. Granger, congratulations on making Head Boy Head Girl."

Hermione's jaw dropped, he couldn't have been serious! She looked at Malfoy as if to confirm. The git had the audacity to smirk looking extremely pleased with her reaction. As she brushed passed him she could literally feel Dumbledore's amused gaze.

It was going to be a long year.


	3. Dirty

Chapter Three

Dirty

Hermione couldn't help but stare at the common room in front of her. It was beautiful. It looked like the epitome of all sophistication and comfort. The room merged the two themes of Gryffindor and Slytherin flawlessly. There was green and red in every corner. In the far end of the room was a grand fireplace, emitting the main source of light in the room along with the elegant torches lined around the room.

"Are you going to stand there all night?" Draco snapped from behind, Hermione realized she had been blacking the door way. Draco pushed passed her into the room and glanced around "it'll do" he muttered and made his way towards the staircase with the Slytherin crest above it.

Hermione was a bit annoyed that he would just ignore her presence completely when they were specifically instructed to settle their differences before they got to Venificus Trellum.

Hermione took a deep breathe and prepared herself for the stupidest thing she has ever done in her life; make a truce with Draco Malfoy.

"Malfoy, we need to talk" she said and stepped into the room. The portrait immediately swung shut behind her, barricading her into the room with her enemy. The thought caught her off guard; she never had to be in such close proximity of him in her life, despite the 6 years they had spent in the same castle.

Hermione saw that he was looking at the door behind her with the same realization that had just dawned on her too; there was no way out of this.

His attention snapped back to her, "I don't have all day Granger" he sneered at her.

"Look Malfoy, obviously were going to have to work very closely with each other for the year. It will make things much easier if we just make a truce and just-"

"Granger," Draco was leaning against the back of the nearest sofa eyebrows raised critically. "If you think that were going to start a truce now and then find common ground later on and become all _chummy_ with each then your forgetting the most important thing about me and you Granger, I am the rich good-looking son of a Death Eater and you are a filthy know-it-all mudblood bitch."

In two quick strides, Hermione crossed the room to where to Draco stood and smacked him hard across the jaw. He staggered back and Hermione could feel her anger consume her completely. She was the voice of reason when Harry and Ron got into fights with him but now it was her turn and she had no one to defend her.

"You evil bastard! If you dare call me that again I will hex you so badly that even your grandchildren will suffer!" Draco straightened looking at her with hate.

"How dare you touch me!" he snarled and with lightening fast reflexes drew out his wand. Before Hermione could even think of how to react she found herself bound at her wrists and ankles hovering in the air before Malfoy. Immediately she felt helpless and exposed. Malfoy gave her an evil smirk.

"Not so high and mighty now, eh Granger?" he drawled. His eyes dropped to her body, unabashedly staring at her body. Hermione was starting to panic now. She didn't like the odds rite now, Draco Malfoy was looming over her as she was tied helplessly with no way to reach her wand and he seemed to be checking her out. This was bad. Draco snapped his eyes back to hers and seemed to read her thoughts.

"Don't get your hopes up Granger, this is just payback for that slap, you seem to be making a habit of it."

"Maybe if you weren't such an _asshole_ all the time I wouldn't have to."

Draco looked at her in disgust "All these years you've seemed to thin that we're equals. This isn't where you _belong_ Granger. It should have been an honor to go on this trip and be titled Head Boy, but now your filthy name has degraded it."

"Fuck you Malfoy" Hermione said, as she struggled against her restraints. She cried out when the ropes tightened into her wrists. "Let me go!" she screamed at him.

"No" he said simply.

Hermione looked at him, appalled; he couldn't just leave her like this. "What do you mean 'No'? Let me go you psycho freak"

"No, I don't think I will. I've decided that you're not good enough to stay in the Head dorms. So you're sleeping down here tonight."

"ARE YOU CRAZY? Untie me now!" She said and tried even harder to tug her wrists from the rope, but it tightened around her wrists painfully stinging her wrists and ankles. The ropes felt white-hot against her skin, and she struggled not to let tears of pain overflow.

"Hurts doesn't it?" Hermione jolted in surprise, she hadn't noticed that Draco had stepped so close to her. She looked at him, but he wasn't looking back. She followed his gaze to her arm where the binds cut in so much, she was bleeding. The flow of blood soaked the ropes and flowed down her bare arms. She looked down at her ankles and saw that they were bleeding too. She felt panicked now, how long was he going to keep her like this? She looked back at him and was surprised to see that he seemed mesmerized by her blood. He lifted his hand, swiped some of her blood onto his fingers, and licked the blood off, his eyes shut. Hermione watched him half horrified, half curios. Hermione watched as he opened his eyes.

"You're so dirty" He whispered. And before she could respond Malfoy's lips crashed down onto hers, his tongue forced entrance to her mouth. Hermione tried to pull back, but she was held firmly in place by her binds. She closed her eyes more form the fact that she felt weaker by every second than from the kiss. Hermione moaned into his mouth, she couldn't breathe now. The room was spinning Hermione was sure of it, but Malfoy still had his lips pressed to hers, it felt like he was sucking the life from her. She didn't notice when the binds disappeared; her hands immediately went to wrap themselves around his neck to keep from falling. The kiss seemed to last for hours before everything went black…

I took a really long time updating huh? Sorry bout that! Went through minor writers block! But the next chapter should be up by tomorrow! REVIEW PLEASE!


	4. A Mutual Agreement

Chapter 4:

A Mutual Agreement

"Alright you two, I hope you've put aside your differences. I realize it will take more than one night, but the first step is to reach a mutual agreement. Agree to disagree, this semester is not about Gryffindor and Slytherin, it's about Hogwarts. Remember that."

Hermione yawned as Professor McGonagall Lectured her and Draco. She understood where her teacher was coming from, but after last night, the only "mutual agreement" she was willing to make with Malfoy is weather he wanted to die quick and easy or slow and painful.

She looked over to where he was sitting, he sneered at her when the Professor turned her back. That's it; he's dying slowly and painfully. Hermione turned her head to look out the window, not really seeing the passing countryside.

"We will be arriving at Venificus Trellum, in a few short hours," Professor McGonagall was saying, as she crossed their compartment, "I am going to go check in with the conductor," she stopped at the door and gave them both sharp looks, as if telling them that they better not kill each other while she was gone.

The moment the door was closed Hermione could feel the thick fog of tension between her and Malfoy intensify. They were both as far away from each other as possible; him on the end near the door and her on the other side by the window, yet they felt each others presence with escalading vehemence.

"Sleep well last night Granger?" said Malfoy snidely, his voice was so smooth and casual, you would never guess that he meant it as anything other than a polite inquiry.

"Sod off Malfoy" Hermione snapped; she was in no mood to put up with his games.

"Tsk, Tsk, Didn't you just hear what your beloved Professor said?" Malfoy said in a falsely innocent voice, "we have to reach a _mutually agree to disagree"_

"Mutual my ass" Hermione said, "How about we _mutually _agree to stay out of each others way and no one gets killed? Got it?"

Draco smirked. "Afraid for your life Granger?" He asked superiorly.

"Actually" Hermione said, venom dripping from every word she spoke, "it's you who should be afraid. Do you think I'm just going to let what you did go?"

Draco laughed condescendingly. "Is that a threat? Excuse me for not worrying too much, but a threat from a Gryffindor bookworm is about as scary as a bunny rabbit."

Hermione scowled at him, a dangerous glint in her eyes "I'd watch my back if I were you Malfoy. Don't forget, I'm top of all my classes for a reason."

An expression resembling uncertainty flashed across Draco's face, but it was gone so fast Hermione questioned if it was even there in the first place. He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by Professor McGonagall's arrival.

As the Professor looked at her two students sitting where she left them, yet glaring hatefully at each other, Hermione could almost hear what she was thinking: _at least they didn't kill each other! _Hermione smiled sweetly at her Professor and wondered if that statement would still be true at the end of the year.

Hermione was snapped out of her cynical thoughts as she realized that Professor McGonagall was talking.

"When we reach the school, we will meet up with the other students chosen for the program. These students travel great distances to get here."

Despite her present company, Hermione felt a surge of excitement to hear this. Meeting new people and going to different places was always fun for her.

"At the end of the trip all the students in the Gifted Program will present what they have learned in each subject through a group presentation." Here she paused to note something on the parchment she had been consulting while telling them all this. "You will decide what exactly to do for your final project with the rest of the students. Understood?"

The two students nodded wordlessly. For the rest of the trip the only noise came from Professor McGonagall's quill scratching notes onto her papers. The two students on either side of her sat in silent calamity on the outside while raging with fury at each other on the inside. Each wished furiously for the others death, and hoping they were the ones to cause it.

xoxo

Next chapter we finally get to the school, the chapter is actually half way written so it should be up really soon! (promise!)


	5. International Relations

Chapter Five:

International Relations

That evening, the train finally pulled into their station and Draco and Hermione practically ran off of it, eager to leave the confinements of the compartment. Professor McGonagall stayed on the train back to Hogwarts saying that she was just to accompany them on the trip, not saying that it was because she believed one of them would have died if she had not. Even with a couple torches along the platform as the only source of light, the first person they noticed was a tall bustling woman calling out to all the students on the platform.

"Gather round here everyone!" she called out in an annoyingly chipper voice. "Leave your trunks they will be brought to the castle later!" She was dressed in shimmering midnight blue robes; she stood on the center of the platform beaming at the students now gathering from their respective trains.

Hermione smiled as she saw the different colors of the other's school uniforms. She sought out the colors of Beaxbatons and Durmstrang, but found that only Beaxbatons was present. The girl in the Beaxbatons uniform was unfamiliar to Hermione, but when she made eye contact with the girl, who was directly across from her in their gathering, her eyes widened in recognition and she gave a small wave. Hermione waved back politely but was cut off from further thought of who she could be when the woman in the middle of the circle started to speak.

"Welcome to Venificus Trellum Academy for the Gifted!" she said her arms thrown wide in welcome. "I am Professor Brooke Carson, and I am the Telepathy Professor here at Venificus Trellum!" She said everything in a very high, sing-songy voice. "Since a lot of you have traveled for days to get here, we shall get you all settled in before giving you a tour of the castle! Everyone pleased follow me to get to your dormitory!"

Professor Carson then led them to the other side of the platform to the biggest fireplace Hermione had ever seen in her life. It was intricately carved and on the mantle was a large marble vase filled with floo powder. Professor Carson picked up the vase and offered it to the nearest student.

"When you step into the flames yell 'student lounge' that will get you to your dorms for the semester!" Professor Carson said excitedly.

The students all took their turns grabbing some floo powder and formed a line at the fireplace. Hermione had just gotten in the line when the girl who had waved to her earlier came up to her.

"Your Hermione Granger right?" She asked excitedly.

"Um, yes I am," Hermione said trying to think if she had met the girl before.

"I'm Adrianna James! You don't know me," She said. "But you went out with Viktor Krum a couple years back right? I heard you're with _Harry Potter _now!" She giggled here and Hermione smiled politely while cringing on the inside that people recognize her from stupid tabloid magazines.

"No, actually Harry and I are just friends" Hermione said, even though she knew her attempt to correct her would be in vain.

"Oh, yeah, riiiight" she said, giving Hermione a wink and a knowing smile, "Trying to keep things hush, hush. I get it!" She gave another giggle and Hermione just shook her head, ever since fourth year the tabloids couldn't get enough of the 'Golden Trio' as they named them. Harry, Ron, and Hermione usually have crowds of fans around them, as a wizard versions of paparazzi are in their face, drawing unwanted attention.

Just when she felt the urge to tell Andrea just where to stick her trash filled issue of _Witch Weekly,_ she found that it was her turn to floo. She took her handful of powder and stepped into the flames. She yelled out "Student Lounge" and for the second time in 24 hours, Hermione found herself standing in a magnificently furnished room. She stepped (or rather stumbled) out of the fireplace and surveyed the _enormous_ room. It was done up in amazing hues of blue. The walls were of the same shimmering midnight blue as Professor Carson's robes. The ceiling was high, giving the room a grand feeling. There were many large windows along the room, allowing a breath taking view of the star lit sky.

Soon all the students were in the room with Professor Carson coming in last, she had them gather around her and said,"Classes start tomorrow at 8:00am; you will receive your class schedules after breakfast in the Mess Hall, which starts at 6:00am! Understood?" She paused and looked around at the nodding students. "Good, now if you follow me, I will show you wear u shall be staying for the semester!" With that Professor Carson turned on her heal and headed for a huge oak wood door at the end of the room. She pushed it open to reveal a long hallway lined with several doors on each sides. "This is the Girls Dormitory! Boys, your dorms are located in the adjacent hallway. I will show the boys to their room after the girls!" Professor Carson consulted a sheet of paper. "I will call a pair of names and your room number so listen up!" She started reading of the list;

"Carey Stern and Brittany Andale, room 37"

"Tracy O'Brian and Sharon Price room 62"

"Hermione Granger and Adrianna James room 29"

Professor Carson finished the list, "Okay girls, find your rooms and get a good nights rest, classes start in the morning! Boys follow me!" The boys all followed Professor Carson down the hall and disappeared around the corner. The Girls walked around, trying to find their rooms. Hermione found hers with ease, for it was located just around where they were standing. She was just about to go in when she heard an annoyingly chipper voice call after her.

"Hermioneee!" Hermione turned to see Adrianna skipping up to her, a delighted smile on her face. "How cool is it that we get to share a room together? This is going to be SO fun!" She said, obviously very pleased with the idea of living with a "celebrity". Hermione groaned inwardly, feeling way too tired to deal with this perky brat. Adrianna pushed the past Hermione and opened the door to their room.

The next events happened so fast that it didn't fully sink in until after it was all over. The moment Adrianna opened the door, there was a loud crashing noise, something hairy ran right in front of Hermione, making her stumble into the room, a loud scream echoed throughout the room as Adrianna fell to the floor motionless.


	6. Accents and Advice

Thanks to all the ppl who reviewed!

In Dreams- Sorry u don't think its unique! But really, wat is anymore? Thanks for the comments! I promise to keep the characters in character!

Boarding las-…who's Kathy Baits? Maybe I don't want to know? lol, keep reading to see if ur guess was rite or not…thanks for the review!

Supernatural Gurl- thanks! Im glad u thinks its cool! Something bad? Depends on ur definition of "bad" (btw, do u watch the show "Supernatural"?)

Saiya-jin Queen- thanks! I try…cool name btw!

Oneamsoundstage- Here's ur update!

On with the story….

Chapter Six:

Accents and Advice

Draco walked behind the rest of the boys, sizing them up in his head. There were five others, all wearing their respective school uniforms; he recognized some of the schools instantly. The others were obviously from other countries. Though it didn't matter to anyone but himself, Draco was pleased to see that he was among the tallest of the boys there.

They had just rounded the corner of the Girl's Dormitory Hallway, when Draco heard a far off crash, a moment later a cat came dashing towards him. The moment it saw Draco it came up to him and grazed his legs, purring. Draco looked down at the cinnamon colored cat and back down at the corridor; no one seemed to be looking for it. Draco picked up the cat and looked at it properly; it was perhaps the ugliest cat he had ever seen in his life, but there seemed to be a challenging look in its eyes that made Draco think twice about just leaving it here. Settling the cat in his arms he caught up with the others just in time to hear his name being called by Professor Carson.

"Draco Malfoy and Peter Andale room 101"

Draco tried to remember if his roommate's name held any title, but couldn't place it. He scanned the room numbers and found his within seconds. The minute he got into the room he dropped the cat onto the floor, where it lingered around his feet. Draco looked around the room and had to admit (though he would never say so out loud) that the room was pretty impressive. It was fairly large and held two grand beds at opposite ends of the room. There was a large fireplace, with a merrily burning fire already in place.

Draco looked around and found to his disgust that the room was done up in red and brown. It wasn't quite the Gryffindor colors, but the red was a close enough reminder of the fifth that accompanied him on this trip. He walked into the middle of the room and stood in front of the fire. He stared down at the blood red of the Persian rug he stood on. He grew infinity irritated of all the things in the room to remind him of the mudblood. He had not given a single thought to the events of the other night, even though it was looming at the back of his head all day. Now finally he could no longer avoid the thoughts that bombarded him.

Draco was very aware of what he had done. He knew exactly what would have happened if he had bound the mudblood with the **_morsus _spell. He had reveled in her pain and even as he stared into the fire a day later, seeing the pain he caused her that was so apparent to him, he was still unrepentant. He had watched her carefully today. He didn't miss a single one of her winces as she reached for something. He saw all the ways she had attempted to cover up her cringing as she massaged her sore wrists. Every one of her pained looks brought him satisfaction, because he knew that every single one of them were his fault. It was payback; it was what she got for being such an infuriating know-it-all. Draco grinned as he remembered the nasty looks she threw at him that he had pretended not to notice, just like how she had done to him on countless occasions in the past.**

**The door directly behind Draco swung open and his roommate walked in. Draco looked at the boy in front of him critically. He looked like the very definition of the phrase "happy go lucky". **

**"Hey roomie!" he said extending his hand, "Peter Andale." **

**Draco gave Peter a quick once over before extending his own hand and introducing himself, "Draco Malfoy".**

**"Nice to meet you" Peter looked around the room and went over to where the house elves had brought over their things. **

**"Hogwarts," Draco replied shortly. **

**"Good school. I go to Magie Pensionnat."**

**"So you're from Paris?" Draco said skeptically recalling the Wizarding School that the other boy referred to. But Peter did not have a French accent, name or, quite frankly, the haughty demeanor he knew French people to have.**

**"My family and I just moved there from America. I'm actually from New York. "Peter said conversationally. **

**Draco cringed inwardly. He was living with an _American_. In Draco's opinion, the only thing worse than a Frenchman was an _American_. The two boys sorted through their clothes, getting ready for bed and the next day. Draco was busying himself by silently ranting about Americans and how they all seem to think that British accents are the funniest things they had ever heard. **

**"Nice cat." Peter said, looking at the cat lounging on front of the fire.**

**"Ugly little bugger though" Draco muttered, turning down his sheets of his bed. He heard muffled laughter coming from Peter's end of the room. He turned and raised am eyebrow at him. **

**"Sorry" Peter said now not even bothering to muffle his laughter. "but, your accent is hella funny!" **

oxoxoxoxoxXOXOXoxoxoxoxooxox

Hermione stumbled over Adrianna and tripped into the dorm room. She caught herself just before she hit the ground. Once she regained her balance she went over to Adrianna to help her up. She had fallen flat on her face, her school skirt, which was already too short, rode up exhibiting a very indecent position.

"I'm so sorry!" Hermione looked up to see a girl making her way towards them. "This is my entire fault!" she said as she crossed the room to where they stood in the doorway. The girl helped steady Adrianna, whose eyes were teary, and was gripping her nose tightly. Adrianna regained her balance quickly.

"I'm okay!" she said, smiling a bit. She let go of her nose and wrinkled it, as if making sure the muscles there still worked.

"What was that thing that crashed?" Hermione asked, looking back at the doorway. On the floor scattered all around the threshold was green glass. Hermione carefully walked closer and muttered "_repairo_!" The green glass quickly molded itself into an elegant vase. Hermione picked it up and set it down on the nearest desk.

"That crashed _so _close to you guys! I was getting a head start on multiple levitation, but I broke concentration when you two came in and everything went flying everywhere!" She looked around at the other objects she had been using, an Advanced Arithamancy book and a quill. "I'm Tracy by the way." She said snapping her attention back to the two girls. "Tracy Stone". Tracy shook hands with Adrianna, who introduced herself next.

"And this" Adrianna said presenting Hermione like Vanna White would a shiny new car, "is _Hermione Granger_!"

Tracy's eyes lit with recognition "Hey! Your Harry Potter's girl right?" Hermione suppressed the urge to scream in outrage. This was getting ridiculous! How many times would she have to deny that her and Harry were _not _a couple?

Tracy looked at her thoughtfully, "Oh, you guys aren't together?" she said.

Hermione's eyes widened, "Did I just say that out loud?" she asked Tracy.

"Say what?" Adrianna said, looking confused.

Hermione looked from Adrianna's puzzled expression to Tracy's sheepish looks.

"I didn't say that out loud, I'm positive." Hermione said looking at Tracy suspiciously.

"Ok, Ok, sorry! I accidentally read your thoughts" Adrianna said hurriedly, "but you thought it really hard! I can't block out _everything_!

"You're telepathic?" Adrianna exclaimed just before Hermione came to the same conclusion. She raised her eyebrows at Adrianna, hardly believing that someone had figured out a problem before her, even though it was only a millisecond before, and no one noticed except for her.

"Ya," Tracy said smiling. "I do mostly wandless magic, focusing on training my mind to do my bidding. For example," she said and indicated for them to look at the three beds across the room. A pillow floated up from the bed, across the room, to where the three girls were standing.

"Wow" Adrianna breathed, "That was so cool!"

"Thanks," Tracy said beaming, "it's a really hard power to control, but I've been working on it all my life."

"Are all the regular students here telepathic?" Hermione asked.

"No, not _all _of them," Tracy said. "But everyone has a special strong power that they were born with. Usually all students with the same power are dorm mates, to help each other out, but this year, there are some… _awkward _arrangements, and I was moved here" She said indicating their dorm with a sweeping gesture. "So welcome to Venificus Trellum, where the strong become stronger and the weak are shunned with ridicule and persistence!" Tracy looked at the two girls uncertain faces and burst out laughing. "I'm just kidding! You two need to relax."

Hermione smiled weakly at Tracy and suddenly started feeling very nervous about tomorrow. She looked around the room to distract herself. The room was fairly large. There was a large fireplace in the center of the room. There were three beds lined next to each other on the side of the room. Each bed had their trunks at the foot of them. Hermione walked up to her trunk placed at the foot of the middle bed.

Adrianna and Tracy were still talking about the school as they all got ready for bed.

"So any advice for us first-timers?" Adrianna asked indicating herself and Hermione.

Tracy considered the question for a moment "Well," she said as she crawled under the covers, "your going to have to get used to having telepathic students losing control and hurling things at you, that's actually pretty common" she paused and looked at the two girls staring blankly back at her, "oh, and I'm not the only one at this school who can read minds, so Adrianna, if you want to live to graduate, you're going to have to stop criticizing my Tinker Bell pajamas, got it?"

Adrianna quickly looked away from Tracy's bold pajama bottoms and blushed. "Sorry, I just always thought of Tinker Bell as a slut."

"Most people do" Tracy said sternly, but she was smiling, clearly amused at the other girl's repentance.

Hermione watched the two from her own bed, and more than ever dreaded tomorrow. How was she going to handle hundreds of telepathic students poking through her mind?

"Don't worry too much about the mind reading thing though, all the students are trained to block out all thoughts from other people." Tracy said.

Hermione and Adrianna exchanged looks of relief.

"It's the Diviners you have to stay away from; they're always ranting about bleak deaths, and unlucky futures! It's really quiet depressing!" Tracy said.

Hermione groaned, now she was _really _dreading tomorrow!

xoxoxoxXOXOXxoxoxoxoxox

A/N- Next chapter, Hermione and Draco's first day at Venificus Trellum! Draco gets an even bleaker outlook at western civilization, and Hermione doesn't know the answer to a question! (gasp!)

I know I don't update very frequently (I have mainly school to blame for that!) but remember, reviews motivate me to write more! So review, like…NOW!...plz?


	7. First Day, Last Straw

A/N: OMG! It's been almost a month! So sorry for taking so long, but my classes keep getting harder and I unfortunately have tons of homework. I know everyone hates excuses, but that the reason. Oh, and myspace too, but I can't help that, im addicted!

Anyways, this chapter is dedicated to Nora, coz I love her, she's the best friend that a myspace whore/obsessive d-hr shipper like me could ever have!

Also, to everyone who reviewed THANK YOU. You all motivated me to stay up for three hours last night and finish the chapter! So here are the fruits of my labor…

Chapter Seven

First Day, Last Straw

_This isn't so bad_, Hermione thought as she made her way to her third class of the day. She had been ridiculously nervous last night, so much so that she had barley gotten any sleep. The whole night she thought of every single fact she remembered about telepathics, which was a lot because telepathy had a lot to do with Occlumency. She had done a lot of studying about it for Harry. The books often referred to occlumency as the learned way of telepathy. Telepathics were born, occlumency was learned. Hermione remembered being fascinated by this knowledge. Magic had actually found its way around the chance of being born with unique powers, twisting fate to allow everyone the same treatment. In the end all of her research seemed to have gone to waste since Harry not only did not learn occlumency, but developed a passionate hate for it.

Usually the solid reassurance of facts comforted Hermione, but that night, every time she remembered another one, she realized that almost all of the students would be able to be in her mind all day, everyday. Who knows what they'll think of her?

She tossed and turned all night, thinking about the most disastrous situations for her first day. She was thinking about it for so long, she must have drifted to sleep, her thoughts turning to vividly embarrassing dreams that seemed to all end with a disturbingly familiar blonde haired figure.

Needless to say, the day had not started well. To add to her anxiety, she found that Malfoy shared every single one of her classes. Apparently, the school had put all the two students from each school on the same classes so they would feel more comfortable. Hermione was at a loss to think of a situation that would be _less_ comfortable than being stuck with Malfoy for the better part of the day. Every time she looked around the class, he was there smirking at her knowingly. So far, there was no particular seating arrangement, so Hermione would sit in her favorite seat, front row center.

Her first two classes were not as scary as she had imagined. The teachers all greeted the exchange students with identical monologues at the beginning of class. Hermione first class was what was called on her schedule "Advanced WW Charms". The only difference she could tell in the class was that it was amazingly fast paced and that the teacher could see over his desk without the aid of many thick books. Hermione had never covered so much material in just one hour than she had in that class. In one lesson they had learned, practiced and were due to master the _corpus _charm, which Hermione was pleased to find that she had. She left the class, already mentally outlining the first foot of her 10 foot paper on the effects of the corpus charm. It felt like the whole school shared her love for higher learning, and the fast-paced classes were perfect for her habits of over-doing her assignments in an alarmingly small amount of time. To Hermione it seemed that Venificus Trellum was made for her. Advanced WW Defense Against the Dark Arts had passed in a similar fashion.

Now Hermione was making her way to Advanced Potions feeling confident. Her contentment shifted somewhat when she heard her name called by a voice becoming increasingly familiar to her.

"Hermione!" called Adrianna, as she caught up with Hermione. "Isn't this place great? I loved my Care of Magical Creatures class. We actually got to examine a Sphinx! Can you believe that? My old school would have _never_ gotten a Sphinx for us! How have your classes been?"

Hermione felt a bit annoyed, she didn't really know what to think of Adrianna. She had first thought of her like Lavender and Parvati, who were forever giggling at the must un-amusing subjects, and never doing any homework. Adrianna, however, couldn't possibly be a ditz, how in the world would she have been able to get to a school for gifted wizards?

Hermione smiled, it was hard not to with Adrianna beaming at her like that. "My classes were great too. There wasn't a lot of difference though"

"I know! I feel betrayed, like there should be signs up everywhere to tell us were at a super cool gifted school, ya know?" she laughed and Hermione smiled again, Adrianna had such a positive attitude, it made it hard to not like her.

After a while Hermione became a bit surprised at how easy it was talking to her and walking down the halls, like they were old friends. Hermione examined her as she walked. The two girls were the same height, but Adrianna looked taller because of her posture. She carried herself with confidence, her strides sure and graceful. Adrianna's strawberry blonde hair tumbled across her shoulders neatly; contrasting against the midnight blue of the Venificus Trellum uniform they had been given.

"What class do you have next?" Adrianna asked.

"Potions room 45"

"Me too!" Adrianna beamed again, "cool, we have my favorite class together!"

"Your favorite class is potions?" Hermione asked skeptically, she had never heard anyone say that they liked potions, let alone it being their favorite class. I _guess they don't have a cynical ex-Death Eater as Potions Master_, Hermione thought grimly.

"I love it!" Adrianna said as they entered the class room. Both girls headed for the joined seats in the first row. Hermione was just getting out her books when Adrianna nudged her.

"Check out the guy who just walked in!" Adrianna was looking at the door as a group of boys came in. Hermione did a double take and saw that Malfoy was among them.

"Which one?" She asked though she already knew.

"The hot blonde one, isn't he gorgeous? Adrianna giggled eying Draco

"I was afraid you'd say that…" Hermione muttered

"Shh, he's coming this way!" Adrianna flipped through her empty notebook as Malfoy walked up their aisle. She casually moved her elbow so that it knocked over her quill strategically at Malfoy's feet and pretended not to notice. Malfoy raised an eyebrow at the quill on the ground. In one fluid movement he flicked out his wand and floated the quill in front of Adrianna's face to get her attention.

Hermione sincerely hoped that Adrianna wasn't impressed by that cheap trick, but then of course, she had used the oldest trick in the book. Sure enough, Adriana smiled mischievously and said innocently, "Oh, Thank you! I didn't even know I dropped it!

"Yes you did" Draco said running his eyes over Adrianna in a way Hermione thought was like he was trying to undress her with his eyes.

"What? Why would I-"

"I saw you eying me the moment I walked into the room, so let's cut the act short, shall we? Though I must say; I've never seen the old drop the quill act executed so well before. I'm assuming you've used it before?"

Hermione expected Adrianna to blush and relent, as Hermione would have done after being caught like that. But Adrianna reminded Hermione once again that she did not know her. Without skipping a beat Adrianna actually looked delighted that he had seen through her act. "I'm assuming that you're used to girls dropping quills left and right for you?" She said, matching his smug voice with her own.

Draco smirked at her, but Hermione noticed that it was much different than the ones that she was used to getting from him. The smirk aimed at Adrianna was playful and relaxed, where as Hermione was used to malicious smirks, smirks that made her almost afraid of what he might do next. Hermione decided she didn't like Malfoy's playful smirk.

Draco bent down to Adrianna "That's not the only thing I'm used to girls dropping for me." He said in a low voice that left no room to question what he meant by it.

Hermione looked at Adrianna, surely now the girl would give up? But there was no such luck and Hermione added "shameless" to the growing list of words to describe her new roommate. Adrianna met his steady gaze unwavering and extended her hand, "Adrianna James." She said evenly.

"Draco Malfoy" He said to her, taking her hand very delicately into his own and brushed his lips over the back of her hand. Hermione almost gagged into her own mouth. Adrianna couldn't _possibly _be falling for all this 'I'm so suave' routine that Malfoy was pulling on her! And Hermione was certain that he knew she was there and was purposefully ignoring her presence! That annoyed her more than if he would insult her. At the moment he seemed to be concentrating on saying something very quietly to Adrianna that Hermione couldn't quite catch. Hermione thought something about quills and pants were definitely mentioned.

"Settle down class! Settle down!" The professor walked into the room at a brisk pace, immediately demanding order in the chaotic room. Hermione was relieved to see that Draco and Adrianna's playful conversation was over as they gave each other a matching looks of flirtation.

"What do you think? Adrianna asked Hermione, indicating Draco as if he were a particularly shiny piece of jewelry. "Isn't he hot?"

"No, he's an evil, manipulating, arrogant, son of a-"

"Miss Granger, I would not complete that sentence if I were you."

Hermione looked up to see the class staring at her. Somehow, somewhere in the last two minutes the class had fallen silent with the exception of Hermione and Adrianna, who seemed to be fascinated with her book all of a sudden.

"Sorry Professor…" A quick glance to the board showed Hermione the Professor's name. "Richard"

"Miss Granger," He said looking down at a dragon hyde clipboard in his hand, "I see here that your Potion's Master has spoken very highly of you and Mr. Malfoy."

Hermione had to physically restrain her own jaw from dropping off. Snape spoke highly of her? Miracles do happen.

"He says you have an uncanny ability to answer every question he has ever asked correctly. Impressive."

Hermione smiled shakily at that, she never known Snape to compliment anyone! "

"On that note," Professor Richard continued, "perhaps you will be able to answer a couple of my questions?"

"Of course Professor." Hermione said sweetly, trying to compensate for the horrible first impression she made on him.

"The blood of which creature is known to be deadly?"

Hermione replied promptly, "The blood of a Sphinx, if shed unjustly will cause any person in contact with the blood to suffer a slow painful death."

"Correct. Which is why, in this unit it is very important not to get any of the blood on your hands." Professor Richard said evenly. Hermione's eyes widened, students were rarely ever trusted with the blood of a magical creature. Even in Advanced Potions, Snape had always measured the unicorn blood for them. Hermione felt the now familiar jolt of excitement she only got when faced with a challenging class.

"And what, Miss Granger, is the result of the smallest fraction of Sphinx blood in a tranquilizing potion?"

Once again Hermione answered promptly, "The person to take a tranquilizing potion with Sphinx blood in it will lose all control of his body almost instantly. The drinker will also go into a complete coma, giving the illusion of death for a short period of time."

Professor Richard nodded enthusiastically "Exactly right," He said. "Which brings me to my next point; when we are dealing with the Sphinx blood you will all charm yourself with the mouth repulsion charm as precaution. The charm will not allow you to put anything in your mouth at all, so no sneaking those sugar quills to class, even though they are quite good, no?" Professor Richard said waving his own quill to the class.

There was a ripple of guilty laughter throughout the classroom, and Hermione saw a couple people in front of her slowly putting away quills that looked suspiciously bitten off on top.

"Now, this question is directed to the whole class." Professor Richard walked to the blackboard behind his desk and wrote a word on the board that Hermione couldn't quite see until he moved.

The phrase was probably in Latin, but Hermione couldn't place it. She racked her brain, mentally thinking of all the ancient runes notes she had committed to memory… nothing. Hermione grew alarmed; she didn't know the answer.

"Yes, Miss Granger?"

Hermione then grew even more alarmed. Hermione's right hand shot up to answer the question on pure instinct! Professor Richard was looking at her expectantly, waiting for her to answer the question she didn't know anything about.

She frantically looked at the board again, hoping she misread it. No such luck, it was the same: _"Lea de mulete"_

Hermione couldn't think of anything to say. The class was staring at her now; they were all waiting for her to mess up Hermione thought wildly, feeling like all the air in the room had suddenly been sucked out.

"Miss Granger?" Professor Richard said again, "Do you know the answer?"

Hermione had just resigned to admit that she didn't when Adrianna slid a piece of paper towards Hermione in the same discreet way she had pushed her quill off the desk.

Hermione scanned the note quickly; '_It's in Latin. It means Amulet of the Lioness'_

Hermione didn't think if this was the right answer or not, she would rather have a wrong answer than admit she had no answer.

"It's Latin. It means Amulet of the Lioness" Hermione said with confidence she didn't feel at all.

"Correct again Miss Granger!" Professor Richard said delighted. "Extra credit for answering a question most fully trained wizards couldn't." Professor Richard addressed the class again and said, "Does anyone know what the Amulet of the Lioness is used for?"

Hermione grabbed the desk tightly to prevent the urge of trying to answer another question she didn't know the answer to. Adrianna seemed to notice this, for she gave Hermione a pitying look with a knowing smile. Adrianna raised her hand from her slumped position in her chair.

"Yes Miss James." Professor Richard said.

Adrianna looked thoughtful before answering, "The amulet is used to control magical creatures completely. It was made by Leo Naryshkinsky in 1757. It was then destroyed in 1880 because wizards were using the amulets to make all magical creatures their slaves, especially centaurs. Now there are only smaller versions of the amulets only used by qualified dragon hunters." Adrianna finished and returned to her slumped position.

"Exactly correct Miss James! My my, this is shaping up to be my smartest class of the day!"

Hermione looked at her in amazement. How did Adrianna know all that when she didn't? This had never happened to Hermione before, she felt stupid for the first time in her life. She was immediately gripped with an overwhelming urge to go straight to the library and read every book she there.

Adrianna looked at Hermione who just realized she was staring at her with her mouth open.

'What?' Adrianna mouthed at her innocently.

_As if she doesn't know! _Hermione thought irritably, snapping her head back to the front of the room where Professor Richard was continuing his lecture. Unlike Snape, Professor Richard liked to give background information on the potions that they were going to make. The potion they were learning about had to do with control magical creatures like unicorns.

Still feeling thrown off for not knowing, Hermione threw herself into her work. She finished the potion perfectly; a fact that she would have been very proud of just two hours ago, but now it seemed like a common thing being most people in the class had finished it too, including Adrianna

Class ended, it was lunch now and all Hermione could think of was getting to the library as soon as possible.

"So that was fun." Adrianna said to Hermione conversationally, as if nothing happened in the last hour to change Hermione's life.

"Yea" Hermione replied half heartedly. She had just realized she didn't know where the library was. "Do you know where the library is?" she asked Adrianna distractedly.

"Damn Granger, already missing your precious know-it-all ways?" Draco drawled from behind them. Hermione turned around and gave him a look a death glare.

"Piss of Malfoy" Hermione said with a look that could kill.

"So hostile! Relax, I was just going to ask about your wrists. You still sore from the other night?" Draco said smugly.

Adrianna looked from Draco to Hermione, taking in the hate filled looks they were giving each other in surprise. "You two know each other?" she asked.

"Unfortunately," Hermione said vehemently. "Excuse me, I have strict no associating with _evil_ policy" Hermione looked pointedly at Draco, turned on her heel and walked out of the classroom, not stopping when she heard Adrianna call after her.

Hermione stalked back to her room, not feeling up to the task of wandering the unfamiliar castle to find the library. She kept up a highly descriptive rant about Malfoy and his stupid smug face until she got to her room.

She dropped her bag on the floor as soon as she got into the room and plopped down on a comfy looking chair by the fire.

"Someone didn't have a good morning."

Hermione started and snapped her head around to see Tracy sitting at her desk by the windows.

"My morning was just fine until I had Potions with Adrianna!" Hermione clapped her hand over mouth. "I mean, its not that that's a bad thing…she's just a bit…much"

"You resent her" Tracy said looking back at her work.

"Stop reading my thoughts!" Hermione snapped.

"I can only read strong emotions. If you stop being so emotional about everything, I'll stop reading your mind." Tracy said, still scribbling in her notebook. "Just because you didn't know the answer to a question does not mean it's the end of the world!"

"I said stop it!" Hermione was pacing the room now, a nervous habit of hers.

"Are you PMS-ing? Because my Professor last year told me that PMS-ing girls tend to become almost unbearable to be around for telepathics."

"I am not PMS-ing!" Hermione practically yelled.

"Okaay, then you're going to need to wear the helmet, because I cannot concentrating with you shouting about stupid amulets and Draco Malfoy." Tracy said, rummaging through her trunk.

"I was not thinking about Malfoy!" Hermione said, outraged at the very idea.

"Yes you were, and you still are. Jeez, you've got some hostile thoughts towards him! What did he ever do to you?"

Before Hermione could stop it, the memory of the other night instantly flashed across her mind. '_What has he done to me?' _She thought grimly, memories of past years came to her, all the mudblood comments and duels that she Harry and Ron had to put up with all came to her in quick flashes. '_What hasn't he done to me?' _

"Wow, what an asshole." Tracy said in an awed voice. She looked as one would after they had described every last detail of Hermione's relationship with Malfoy for the last six years in less than twenty seconds; completely overwhelmed.

Tracy was now holding what looked like a metal bowl. "It's a helmet to block your thoughts from me. I don't think I can handle any more telepathic freak outs." Tracy said trying to smile.

The door opened and Adrianna walked in wearing her usual cheerful smile. "Hey all!" She said happily. "How was your guys' first day? Mine rocked! I don't know why you hate Draco, Hermione, he's so sweet!"

"Sweet? Draco Malfoy?" Tracy said, looking incredulously at Adrianna. "The same one I saw in your thoughts?" she asked Hermione, who nodded. "He's here? He's here and you haven't got him back for that stupid stunt he pulled on you?" Tracy looked ready to breathe fire.

"Stunt? What are you talking about?" Adrianna looked at her roommates. Hermione stayed silent. She didn't even know why Tracy was getting so riled up about it. It's not like Malfoy tried _her _up. Hermione did want to go and hex the living day lights out of him, but what would that accomplish except for her getting two weeks worth of detention in a new school!

Tracy told Adrianna what stunt she was going on about after getting Hermione's consent. Adrianna and Hermione Listened quietly. Tracy told the whole event in perfect order, even reminding Hermione of small details she forgot, and wished stayed forgotten. Adrianna grew redder and redder in the face as Tracy reached the end.

"…and he licked it! How gross is that? He licked her blood!" Tracy practically yelled. Hermione remembered it clearly now, no longer able to suppress the memory any longer, but after that all Hermione remembered was fainting. Apparently Tracy had a different ending to the story than what Hermione remembered.

"…he kissed her! He practically shoved his tongue down her throat after she was semi-unconscious and lost a lot of blood!" Tracy finished with a flourish.

"He _WHAT_!??" Adrianna and Hermione shrieked, outraged. Hermione looked at the verge of fainting again.

"Malfoy…he… _what_?" Hermione went completely white.

"He kissed you; I think you can't remember it because you were so weak from the blood loss, but he did, I saw it."

Hermione had turned a faint green color now. "I think I'm going to puke!" she said looking amazingly disgusted with herself."

"That bastard!" Adrianna said. "How dare he! He told me that you didn't like him because-" she paused looking utterly disgusted. "I am _so _canceling our date tonight!"

"You move fast! Didn't you just meat him?" Tracy asked.

"Yes, but learning what freaky evil perv he is, I'm more concerned in giving him what he deserves!" Adrianna replied determinedly

"Yea, we should get him back" Tracy agreed.

"Excuse me?" Hermione said annoyed. Who were these random girls to but into a feud Hermione had been a part of for the last six years? "What are you guys going to do about it? Just let it go. You barely even know what its like between me and him!" Hermione said.

"I know that if you don't get him back he'll think he can do whatever he wants with you!" Tracy said.

"Tracy's right," Adrianna said. She got up and went to where Hermione was standing. Adrianna grabbed Hermione's wrists and before she could draw away, she pulled her sleeves back to reveal the deep scars etched brutally into Hermione's pale skin. Adrianna gasped at the site. "Do you really want him to get away with this?" she asked indicating the wounds. Tracy came to stand with them and Hermione looked at the two girls as they looked solemnly back. Both their eyes were filled with concern for her. She had only seen Harry and Ron look at her like that before that moment. She felt tears sting painfully at the back of her eyes as she thought of them. She wished they were here now, everything would be easier.

Hermione looked down at her horribly wounded wrists and felt her tears fade and anger well inside her. Suddenly Hermione had never felt surer of one thing before in her life:

Draco Malfoy must pay

REVIEW PLEASE! and promise to update soon! Remember, more reviews faster updates!

I have _some_ payback ideas but nothing concrete so im open to ANY suggestions!


	8. Liones Strikes Back

A/n – thank u to my reviewers, I really loved ur guys' suggestions!

eddie1891- HILARIOUS suggestion! Its so "mean girls"

Blueberry Sparkle -evil isn't scary! Its fun!

andie, tarotgodess, Moonstar-75, DaOnleeSam, SoulessxWarior, thanks to ALL of u! )

Chapter Eight

Lioness Strikes Back

Draco woke suddenly feeling… wet. He opened his eyes and saw a giant hairy beast licking his face. Draco sat up quickly pushing the beast off him. He had still not found the owner of the stray cat, mainly from lack of trying. What was he supposed to do? Post up signs?

Grumbling under his breath, Draco started to get ready for the day. He smirked wistfully as he remembered what an obviously bad day Granger had yesterday.

Draco had been watching her and her friends for the past six years just as his father taught him too; to look for their weaknesses. It didn't take an Unspeakable to figure it out. Potter's was to play the hero. Weasley's was his temper, but Granger, she had been the longest to figure out.

He would always get a rise out of Potter and Weasley; ever since the beginning it was easy. But Granger, she was hard to break. Her intelligence was the most important and so was her loyalty to her friends. This was why yesterday was so priceless. Granger didn't know the answer to the question, he knew it, and would definitely use it against her. He knew flirting with that Adrianna girl had pissed her off too. Though that was just a perk, Adrianna James was one of the reasons Draco had come to Venificus Trellum.

Draco paused as he remembered his plans, but soon continued his way to the shower. He had a good feeling that today was going to be a fun filled Granger-torturing day.

_I've lost the will to live._

Hermione was in a state of absolute shock. She was staring at the test she had taken for her History of Magic class.

There, on the top of the page was a mark so foreign to Hermione that she didn't even comprehend what it meant for a full minute.

A big red D- was written sloppily on her paper, just next to her name.

_Hermione Granger D-_

Hermione looked up suddenly at the offending teacher. She was the complete opposite of Professor Binns. For one thing, she was alive. But it was more than that. She was _alive. _She had such a powerful presence. Professor Corey honestly loved teaching history, and it showed. She was enthusiastic about every battle, historic landmark, and revolution that had ever occurred throughout time. She was just overwhelming after having a dead and dull teacher for six years. But still, that was no excuse for this D. Is this a joke?

Hermione heard the class laugh at something Professor Corey said. She particularly heard a snide chortle from behind her. It was Malfoy. He was talking to someone next to him.

The bell rang. Hermione lingered in getting her things together; she had to talk to the teacher. She noticed that Malfoy was taking his sweet time too.

"That was a hard test." He was saying.

"Ya," the boy next to him agreed. "What did you get?"

Hermione's ears perked up, anxious to catch his answer.

"An A, of course." Malfoy said smugly. "you?"

"A B." The boy said somewhat dejectedly.

"A B is good, respectable even." Draco said encouragingly. Hermione raised her eyebrows in surprise. Malfoy is being encouraging? Isn't that one of the signs of the apocalypse?

"Now what _I _would be worried about would be if I got a D. Now _that _would be horrible. Don't you think?" Malfoy drawled pointedly looking in Hermione's direction. Hermione felt a burst of shame, he knew. She knew he did.

"Ya, I guess, especially this early in the year." The boy conceded

"Exactly." Malfoy said maliciously. "I would just _die_ of shame."

"I wouldn't take it _that_ far!" the boy said, completely oblivious to the fact that Malfoy wasn't really talking to him, he was talking to Hermione.

"No, I suppose you wouldn't." Malfoy said. He paused for a moment as they walked by Hermione, just behind her. She froze, suddenly unable to move. Malfoy leaned in close to her; she felt his breath on her neck as he whispered in her ear. "But you would, wouldn't you Granger?" He said, his every word dripping with venom.

And then he was gone, leaving Hermione with the feeling of someone who had just been stabbed. At that moment she hated Draco Malfoy more than she ever did before. She quickly grabbed her things and followed him out the door, all thoughts of talking to her teacher set aside.

All the anger and outrage she had felt for him intensified drastically with the added feeling of shame that he found out. She kept thinking the same thing over and over: _He knows_. Hermione knew he would tell everyone now.

She stalked angrily behind him. Her smoldering gaze never looked away form his retreating back. Hermione reached for her wand subconsciously, she knew she was going to do something awful to him… but she didn't know exactly what it was.

Hermione played with her wand longingly and wondered if anyone would notice if Malfoy's head just exploded. Violence seemed like the only solution to her, but she never had to be the one delivering his punishment. Harry and Ron always gladly got back at him for being an ass to her. But Harry and Ron weren't here were they? Feeling pathetic, she followed him into their next class of the day, potions.

She wanted him to suffer, but every spell or curse she remembered seemed too easy, even cowardly. Hermione's Gryffindor pride wouldn't let her give Malfoy a well aimed bat-bogeyhex.

The class started. Adrianna was sitting next to her talking with the nearest cute boy and glancing at Malfoy discreetly to see if he was watching. He wasn't.

Hermione, Adrianna and Tracy had stayed up for hours last night talking about how to get back at Malfoy. It was actually fun. They talked a lot. It was just last night, but Hermione couldn't remember just what was so fun about it. They were just sitting around the fire, in those big comfy chairs. Tracy sent for the house elves to bring them junk food, and they just talked about… everything, but at the some time nothing important. Somewhere in their conversation, Adrianna had announced that she had a 'brilliant beyond brilliant idea'. The perfect way to get a flirt is to flirt! This made no sense at all to Hermione, but the whole evening had passed, and that was the only thing they could think to do without getting sent to Azkaban for attempted murder. So today, the plan was for Adrianna to flirt with any cute boy right in front of Malfoy.

_Ooh. _Hermione thought sarcastically. _How diabolical. _

There she goes again with that giggle. Hermione knew it wasn't going to work, but Adrianna wouldn't hear of it. Actually, Hermione thought, she was enjoying it.

Hermione, feeling completely discouraged about her last class, fell back on her usual philosophy: when in doubt, throw yourself into your school work. And given her less than perfect status, she knew she was going to have to work _even _harder.

"Class, today we will be starting this week's group assignment." Professor Richard said. "Since it is the beginning of the semester, I will assign you your partners. Listen carefully as I call your names.

"O man!" Adrianna said to Hermione. "We probably wont get paired up because we were talking so much yesterday!"

Hermione felt secretly relieved, she really didn't want to work with Adrianna; it was like trying to work with Harry or Ron: too distracting.

"As long as you're not with-" Adrianna said before she got cut off by the teacher.

"Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy." Professor Richard said, and then continued reading off names as if he didn't just make Hermione's life that much more intolerable.

Hermione exchanged looks of horror with Adrianna.

"What are the odds?" Adrianna said recovering from the initial shock. "You gotta appreciate the cruel irony though" she said conversationally.

Hermione looked at her in disbelief as she gathered her things to sit with her new partner. Before she knew it, the smug bastard who was Draco Malfoy occupied the seat next to Hermione.

"If you have any concerns over your new partner, please talk to me about it in private." Professor Richard said and then sat behind his desk, promptly busying himself in paper work.

Hermione turned to Malfoy immediately, she didn't want him to get the first word. "Look, since there's nothing we can do about this, we might as well get our work done-"

"Granger if you think that I am actually going to sit here and _work _with you, then your even stupider than I thought you were five minutes ago when I saw your test results. Richard said that if we have concerns, we should talk to him. Well, I for one am _very _concerned that you are obviously not as qualified to be my partner, or even, for that matter, to be in this _class. _So excuse me while I ask to be placed with someone more competent.

Malfoy then gave her the most arrogant smirk she had ever seen, and something in her snapped. He stood and sauntered to Richard's desk. Hermione watched him with such a hateful look, instinctively she grabbed her wand, and this time she knew _exactly _what to do with it.

"_Lindahl!"_

"Excuse me professor, but I just wanted to ask if- will you play with my magic wand?" Malfoy said and winked suggestively at Professor Richard.

"I beg your pardon!" Professor Richard said appalled.

"Will you play with my magic wand?" Malfoy said again, annunciating his words carefully. He did not have the slightest idea of what he really said.

Hermione laughed at the looks Professor Richard was giving Malfoy; the jinx Fred and George taught Ginny over the summer had been lost on her, but Hermione picked it up well. Professor Richard looked angry now.

"Is this some kind of joke?" he said to a confused looking Draco. Hermione realized that he was not aware of what he was saying. He was looking at Professor Richard as one would to an unresponsive child. Since he thought he wasn't saying anything wrong, Professor Richard's scandalized looks must be very confusing, Hermione thought with satisfaction.

Hermione looked around the class and her smile faltered somewhat. the people in the back of the room were completely oblivious to Malfoy's jinx, and while some people in the front looked a bit curious at what was going on in front, they were too engrossed in measuring and taking notes to care much.

Hermione decided that it was time to step things up. She aimed her wand carefully at Malfoy and muttered another spell,

"_Sonorous!"_

"WILL YOU PLAY WITH MY MAGIC WAND???" Draco said in an announcer's ringing voice. He looked utterly stunned that his voice was so loud. Hermione looked around at the class, they were all looking now. Immediately the class wad filled with laughter, confused looks, and even catcalls.

Hermione looked around the room for Adrianna and saw her looking back. Hermione grinned pointedly at her. She looked at the spectacle Draco was causing at the head of the class, and than back at Adrianna, then watched her eyes go wide with understanding. Hermione and Adrianna fell into a fit of laughter along with the rest if the class.

"Mister Malfoy! Either stop making a scene or you will go directly to the Headmaster's office!"

"WILL YOU PLAY WITH MY MAGIC WAND?" Draco roared, looking at Professor Richard as if he were crazy.

"Professor he's obviously been jinxed and doesn't know what he's saying!" yelled someone in the back, Hermione turned to see the same person Malfoy was talking to in the hallway.

Malfoy looked confused, but cleverly decided to stop talking since that was what was causing all the commotion. Professor Richard took Malfoy aside and told him quietly what he was really saying every time he tried to talk.

Hermione watched him along with the rest of the class. Draco flushed with anger; Hermione could almost see the smoke coming out of his ears. His head snapped to her direction suddenly, and she saw the accusation in his eyes. Without listening to Professor Richard's protests, Malfoy stomped menacingly over to her desk. He was shaking a bit with fury and yelled at her:

"WILL YOU PLAY WITH MY MAGIC WAND?"

The class exploded with laughter again and Hermione fought to keep a straight face.

"I think your _magic wand_ has caused enough problems, don't you Malfoy?" Hermione said sweetly as she leaned back in her chair and delivered one of her own smug smirks to Malfoy's murderous gaze.

"That's it!" yelled Professor Richard. "I will have such inappropriate behavior in my class! _Silencio!" _Professor Richard pointed his wand to Malfoy to silence him. "Mister Malfoy, report to the Hospital Wing, they will sort you out"

With a look to Hermione that told her that this wasn't over, Malfoy left the room. Professor Richard tried to call for order, but there was only 10 minutes left till class was over, and everyone were doing impressions of Malfoy's jinx.

"OMG!" Adrianna said to Hermione the second the bell rang at the end of class. "That was hilarious! Where did you learn to do that, and how fast can you teach me?" Hermione grinned cheerfully. Hermione and Adrianna walked triumphantly back to their dorm room where Tracy already was.

"He said WHAT!?" she exclaimed when they had filled her in on the whole story. "Did he get really mad? Did he know it was Hermione who cast the spell?"

"Ya he did!" Adrianna exclaimed. "He looked like he was about to kill--"

BANG!

The door flew open and a voice called out menacingly. "GRANGER, YOU'RE DEAD!"

All three girls whipped their heads toward the door just in time to see a figure flying away from the door as if repelled and crash into the wall behind and fall to the floor motionless.

Refrences- for those of you that noticed, the scene where Draco notices Hermione's bad grade is from Gilmore Girls, my favorite show EVER!


	9. Face Off

Chapter Nine

Face Off

_Dear Harry and Ron,_

_Venificus Trellum is very… interesting._

No, that's not the word. Hermione thought in anguish. More like hectic, insanely hard, and confusing! But she didn't want them to be worried. They had already sent her two letters each and the last one joked about how she must not be replying because she was too busy with her fun new school to spend 2 seconds to scribble down "hey, what's new?" And if Hermione knew anything about boys, it was that they were most serious when they were joking.

So here she was, trying with all her might to tell her best friends in the world, exactly what she has done at this school without telling them _exactly _what she was doing.

Needless to say, she was having a bit of trouble.

Hermione contemplated telling them the truth, that Malfoy was somewhere in the castle screaming bloody murder for her, that she got a D on her last test and that her roommate couldn't help but poke into her mind and find out about the time Ron threw up slugs in second year, and that Crookshanks was missing!

Hermione sighed; lying seemed like the only option. She knew that if she told them the truth, Harry and Ron would go into the crazy "hero syndrome", as she liked to call it, and find some way to save her from whatever Malfoy was undoubtedly planning for revenge.

Determined to finish before dinner, she got to work.

"Shanks! Shanks! Here kitty, kitty, kitty!"

Peter was on the study table trying to get the cat off of the high bookshelf.

Draco, meanwhile just sat on his bed, overlooking the spectacle that Peter was making of himself.

"Here kitty, come to Peter!" Peter cooed to the cat for the hundredth time.

"Will you just stop that?" Draco asked irritably, "I am trying to study!"

"No, you're just staring at that bit of parchment on your desk and berating yourself for stupidly thinking you can just barge into the girl's dormitory without activating the wards."

"At least I am not talking with a _cat!" _Draco said angrily.

"You know what your problem is?" Peter asked. "You're way too stressed out about that girl, I mean, didn't you say you hated her with a passion?"

"I said I _loathe _her with a passion, there's a difference."

"Dully noted, so if there is so much hatred between you two, is there any reason for you to keep being at each other's neck? Why not let bygones be bygones?"

"Because the day I let her rest in peace is the day she dies a horribly slow and painful death!" Draco exclaimed heatedly.

"Um… Remind me to stay on you good side."

"Dully noted." Draco said. He stood and left the room, as he did, he passed the bookshelf where Peter was still trying to get the cat down. The moment Draco passed, the cat deftly jumped onto Draco's shoulder. Seemingly unperturbed about having a cat jump on him Draco left the room, leaving his roommate to gape.

Hermione hummed pleasantly. She finished her letter. It was informative and evasive all at the same time. It was perfect; all she had to do was send it.

She had just entered the corridor leading to the Owelry when she heard it.

_Meow_

Hermione froze. That was Crookshanks! She knew it was. She hurried up the stairs and quickly pushed the door to the Owelry open, and ran straight into somebody.

"Ouch!"

"Watch it!"

Hermione looked up from her position in the middle of the doorway and found herself looking straight up at Malfoy…and Crookshanks.

"Crookshanks!" Hermione cried out in surprise and fumbled to her feet.

"What did you call me?" Malfoy said annoyed.

"That is my cat!" Hermione yelled. Crookshanks recognized his owner and curled around Hermione's feet, purring contentedly.

"Crookshanks?" Draco said critically "For someone supposedly smart, you'd think you would name your cat something less idiotic. But then of coarse, what else would one expect from a pathetic _mudblood?" _Draco sneered.

"Pathetic? You should talk, ferret! Why aren't you at dinner anyways? To preoccupied playing with you magic wand?" Hermione said coolly. She then scooped Crookshanks into her arm protectively. She had missed his comforting weight.

Color flared into Draco's face, more from anger than embarrassment. "You stupid bitch. I don't think you got the message the first time."

"You mean when you tried to _bleed_ me to death." Hermione snarled. She pushed past him and went into the Owelry, looking for a school bird to send her message.

"No, when I showed you that you are obviously no match for me." Draco said.

"That's what this is about then?" Hermione asked, disbelievingly. "I should've known. This is about proving yourself, isn't it? Are you that insecure?

"This is about saving the school from embarrassment!" Draco practically yelled, scaring a few owls around him to fly away.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Hermione snapped, ignoring the flutter of wings around her. "You couldn't care less about Hogwarts!"

"That's where you're wrong. Unlike _you _my family has attended Hogwarts from the _beginning. _Unlike you, my family has donated so much to that school; it would go bankrupt without my family's financial aid! Who do you think is _funding_ this bloody exchange program?"

Hermione was shocked; she was in a program funded by the Malfoys?

"The likes of you shouldn't be representing my school. You shouldn't even have been allowed to go there in the first place! But everyone's tolerant because you make top grades somehow! But what about now, Granger? What are you going to do now that your precious grades are below the very high expectations of this program? Obviously, your not as good as everyone thinks you are!

Hermione felt the cruel sting of his words behind her eyes. He hadn't made her cry since in a long time, but being so far from home, getting that failing grade, it was way too much. Soon Hermione's tears overflowed. She looked away from Malfoy quickly, feigning interest in a particularly beautiful owl nearby, hopping against hope that he hadn't noticed.

Then, she heard him. A quiet chuckle. Draco Malfoy was laughing at her. Hermione looked back at him. And saw what she had been seeing for years; Malfoy and his smug smirk, looking as if he owned the world and knew everything in it. He opened his mouth to say something. Something she already knew to be cruel, evil, and just the right thing to make her hate herself. And in that moment she hated Draco Malfoy so much, that she acted on pure instinct so that she could prevent him from making her feel like something worse than trash.

In a flash her hand was raised in a fist ready to make contact with his arrogant face. But he was quicker. Draco stopped her hand firmly; all the mirth disappeared from his eyes. She stared at him; shocked at how fast he moved.

"I was expecting that." He said, and before she could even think of what to do next, he cried out, "_Expelliarmus_!"

Hermione hurtled through the air, landing roughly against a bird cage a few feet away. She got to her feet without skipping a beat. "_Stupefy_!" Hermione cried

Draco barely ducked it; he was not expecting a hasty retaliation. Hermione smiled when she realized this. He hadn't expected her to fight back.

Hermione and Draco stood at the ends of their respective sides of the Owelry. The birds, sensing that there was going to be trouble, exited the tower or went to perch on higher grounds. They walked toward each other, wands by their sides and met in the middle. They saluted each other as they were taught to their second year and then turned their backs to each other, walking ten paces away from each other to take their position.

They stood for a second, staring at each other with looks of pure hate. Today they would settle their 6 year feud.

**Meanwhile…**

Tracy was showing Adrianna the library.

"That's the Ancient Runes section there; we are the only school with enough books to fill out a whole section on ancient runes." Tracy said to Adrianna, who was paying far too much attention to her nails than necessary. "Headmaster Morrissey has written a lot himself. He's studied ancient runes all his life, he made many important discoveries in the 70's about how the Romans used runes as a way of creating an image that wasn't really there, a hologram if you will-"

"Tracy! This is all really fascinating and all, but where's Hermione? She said she would meet us here. The way she was raving about wanting to get a head start on some homework assignment, you'd think she'd be here in a heart beat!"

Tracy frowned too. "You're right, it weird. She has a natural love for books, I can tell."

"Hey!" Adrianna said suddenly, "can't you just find her telepathically?" Adrianna looked exited. "One of the other telepathy students told me that they taught you how to do that in fifth year!"

"Well, we taught to do that only when necessary. It's not polite to go poking through people's minds unexpectedly." Tracy said.

Adriana looked at her skeptically. "Haven't you been all through Hermione's mind already? She's like an open book to you!"

"You have a point… that girl does have a problem trying to keep her mind shut… ok then, I'll do it" she then shut her eyes and had a very far off expression. She mumbled a couple of words under her breath and then snapped her eyes open suddenly. She looked at Adrianna in alarm.

"What? What is it?" Adrianna asked

"We need to get to Hermione _now!" _Tracy said urgently. Tracy led Adrianna hurriedly out of the library and back towards the dorm rooms, hoping that she wasn't too late to stop Hermione.

"_Impedimenta!" _

Hermione cried out as the spell hit her shoulder.

"_Incendio!" _

Draco's pants lit on fire, she used his temporary distraction to her advantage.

"_Stupefy_" she cried

Draco quickly dropped to his knees, dodging her spell. He managed to put the fire out while hurtling another spell at Hermione in the same motion.

Hermione wasn't expecting this; the spell hit her forcefully in the stomach and she was knocked off her feet. She moved quickly to get back up, but Draco had cast the leg-locking charm on her. Hermione faced him from her awkward position on the ground, wand at the ready. Her mind flashed back to first year when Malfoy had cast this very same charm on Neville. A spark of anger burst through her as she remembered the humiliation that it had caused him. Because of Malfoy; it was always because of Malfoy.

She waited until he had raised his wand and was starting to cast another spell when she quickly retaliated.

"_Expelliarmus!" _

Draco's wand flew out if his hand. He quickly went to retrieve it; giving Hermione a chance to cast the counter-curse on herself. She stood up, ready to face him again.

"_Impedimenta!" _

Draco yelled in surprise as the spell hit him squarely in the chest. Hermione heard a satisfying crack of his bones as he hit the hard stone wall. He tried to retaliate quickly but she noticed with shock that his left arm went limp as he tried to move it and his movements were sluggish. Hermione was just about to call out to him, to see if he was alright, but was taken aback when he straightened back up and looked positively determined as he raised his wand again.

"_Relashio!" _He yelled. Fiery sparks flew from his wand, flying across the room at Hermione. She quickly used the shielding charm, but the spell was too powerful. She felt most of the burns hit the side of her legs and waist.

Tears of pain flew into her eyes. More than that she felt angry at herself for feeling sympathy for the likes of Draco Malfoy; who didn't need to think twice to hurt her.

There was some kind of noise coming from the corridor. It was coming closer and closer. Under normal circumstances Hermione and Draco would both call off the duel; neither thought the other was worth a month's detention. But Hermione never quit when she had a goal. Her heart drummed in temptation. She didn't know if it was smart to use this next spell, but she didn't care, nothing seemed important any more. Nothing except permanently wiping off Malfoy's stupid smirk. Hermione smiled coldly and raised her wand resolutely,

"_Recendy!" _

A shot of silver light emitted from Hermione's wand in Draco's direction. Hermione smile of triumph faded soon, however; Malfoy had moved out of harms way at the last possible second, and the beautiful bird Hermione had noticed before was the one who was injured in the line of fire.

The bird that Hermione knew to be a rare snidget was engulfed in silver flames. The poor little bird tried to take flight, but could not escape the enchanted flames. The bird let out an ear piercing screech.

"What did you do it Granger?" Draco yelled over the noise.

Before Hermione could reply, the door to the Owelry opened and Tracy and Adrianna came bursting in.

"We're too late!" Tracy wailed despairingly. Her eyes went straight to the bird on the ground.

Adrianna reached for her wand in a flash, "_aguamente!" _she cried. Water emitted from her wand. But the flames did not cease.

"Hermione! Do you know what you just did?" Tracy asked worriedly. "Do you know whose falcon that is?"

"What? No! Why aren't the flames going out?" Hermione said in panic. The spell had been one of the experimental ones that Fred and George told her and Ginny about. She didn't know the full extent of its power.

"_Agumente! Finite Incantatum! Aguamente!" _Adrianna tried frantically to put the flames out. It seemed to die down but not by much.

Her frantic tones and the pined screeching of the bird added immense anxiety to Hermione's already building thought that she had done something worse than just injure a school bird.

"Tracy!" She yelled over the noise. "Whose bird is it?"

Tracy had replied to her but the bird's wailing drowned out the answer.

"What?" Hermione asked.

"_Silencio!" _Draco said. There was suddenly silence in the Owelry. The girls all looked at Draco who had been carefully examining his obviously broken arm.

"Hermione," Tracy said, quietly bringing Hermione's attention back to her, "That is Professor Morrissey's bird."

It took Hermione about a minute to remember that Professor Morrissey was the headmaster of Venificus Trellum.

Sorry for taking soooo long with this chapter, but I had to get it JUST right since it is a VERY important chapter! The next chapter is already halfway done and I can say that there will be a WHOLE LOT of trouble for Draco and Hermione! And a visit from everyone's favorite headmaster! (I don't mean Prof. Morrissey) please review ur input helps a lot more than u think!

And here is a lil info about Snidgets since it is going to be a very big part of the story:

Snidget

A small, spherical bird which can fly with amazing agility, changing speed and direction almost instantaneously. Its golden feathers and red, jewel-like eyes are so prized that at one time the snidget was hunted almost to extinction. The fact that a snidget became such an integral part of the game of Quidditch (and usually died when it was caught) didn't help matters either. The snidget became a protected species; there are now severe penalties for harming or even capturing one. Snidget reserves have been set up worldwide, and a magical device, the Golden Snitch, has replaced the live bird in Quidditch.

–Fantastic Beasts and Where to find them


	10. Punishment, part one

Chapter 10

Punishment…part one

If there was ever a person who wished that they could just sink into the ground, they did not wish it as hard as Hermione Granger did on the long walk to the Headmasters office. She was walking in between Tracy and Adrianna, Malfoy was just ahead of them. The commotion had called Professor Richard to them and upon seeing the chaotic sight, immediately rounded up all the present students and sent word to the hospital wing to pick up the injured snidget.

Hermione just could not comprehend when things had gotten so out off control. She didn't know if it was her who lost all sense of reason first of if it was Malfoy. She did not know where all that hateful energy came from in that last spell, but she knew it was not normal, nor were the effects of the spell.

As the solemn group proceeded down the mercifully empty hallways she was very aware that she was about to meet the esteemed headmaster in the most horrible way she could ever imagine. She chanced a side look at Malfoy to see how he was taking in this situation, but she saw that he did not look particularly affected.

Professor Richard stopped them in front of a magnificent tapestry. In it was a picture of a beautiful sunlit garden with cherry blossom trees lightly rustled by a soft breeze. There was many frolicking nymphs dancing around a man playing an instrument. As Hermione stared at the scene before her, she felt more and more mesmerized by the instruments sweet melody. She felt herself step forward unconsciously, wanting to be apart of the serene picture. As she took another step she could even feel the bright sun on her face, making her feel immediately calm and happy. Then there was a sudden flash of light, causing her to shut her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again she was surprised to see that she was standing in… a library?

Hermione looked around her to see Adrianna, Tracy, and Malfoy all looking around with the same bemused expression she had. Then Professor Richard appeared out of the stone wall directly behind them. He strode into the room unaffectedly and Hermione understood that this was the headmasters office.

Looking around the room was huge, with very high ceilings, in fact, upon looking up Hermione saw that there was no visible ceiling; it just faded to black. She saw that its walls were bookshelves. All of which were practically overflowing with ancient and important looking books. There were quills and parchments everywhere. It was all scattered on the floor, the trail led straight to the desk where it looked like it was just bursting with papers.

Hermione was just wondering where the headmaster was when she saw that Professor Richard was addressing the pile of parchments and realized that there was someone talking back amongst the papers.

He shortly related the events which caused this sudden intrusion. Hermione could now make out the Headmaster from the enormous pile on his desk. From what she could see he was very… short. He stepped out of the mess of parchments and Hermione found herself looking down at a boy who couldn't be older than 14 years old.

Professor Richard confirmed Hermione's thoughts, "Miss Granger, Mr. Malfoy, Miss James, this is the Headmaster of Venificus Trellum, Professor Malligo Morrisey."

…………..

**A/N- So ****its**** been, what? Six months? But here it is! Part one of what is turning out to be a longer and more complicated chapter than I had originally planed… part two will follow shortly, if I have enough computer time… review if u were surprised! **


	11. Punishment, part two

Chapter 11

Chapter 10

Punishment…part two

RECAP- Draco and Hermione are in big trouble since they almost killed the Headmaster's bird during a huge duel that broke out between them.

Hermione gaped at the young boy. She looked around at Malfoy and Adrianna and they both had similar expressions on their faces. Hermione was speechless. Adrianna was the first to recover from the shock.

"Excuse me, but is this a joke?" She asked as politely as she could.

Professor Morrissey looked a bit surprised and then looked down at himself. "Oh, please ignore this," he said waving at himself. It is the side effects of the runes I have been working on. I should look my own age in a few moments."

Even as he said the words his body started to grow and he changed before their eyes into the grown man they were expecting. He grew taller right before their eyes. His hair thinned a bit and there was a hint of a receding hairline, but the dirty blonde hair did not change to white, and the wrinkles though faint, were not as many as Hermione had expected. In fact, as the Headmaster stopped aging Hermione saw that he was not as old as she had thought. For some reason she had been expecting another version of Dumbledore.

She was suddenly cut off of all thoughts of the Headmasters appearance as he was informed of the position they were found in and swallowed her escalading fear as she watched his expression grow grim.

He waved his wand to his desk and the papers filed themselves in drawers. He the conjured up four seats in front of his desk for the students. The Headmaster seated himself at the head of his desk and gestured for then to do likewise. Professor Richard left the room.

Professor Morrissey paused before saying, "An unsupervised duel has not broken out in my school as far back as I can remember… and dueling as you two were, well I am sure that it was more provoked that in just one meeting, causing me to think that this has been a breaking point in the making for quite a while now, and that my poor Felix was just an innocent bystander… I have not seen such disastrous effects of a duel in ages. To even think that you two are capable of such destruction is… astounding."

The two students who had been listening intently to Headmaster Morrissey looked up suddenly, both obviously intending to hear harsher words.

"Though there is no mistaking your abilities, it is why you were accepted here, your actions can not go unpunished. Which one of you was the one who set my bird on fire?"

The Head Masters tone was soft but there was no mistaking that sharp edge to his words.

Hermione winced inwardly as she remembered how embarrassed she felt on the whole walk to the Professor Morrissey's office. They were joined by another professor just after Tracy and Adrianna found them in the Owelry. The professor immediately contacted Professor Morrissey and in what seemed like moments later, Hermione found herself in the Head Master's office more embarrassed than she had ever been in her life. Now being faced with the one question she had been dreading, Hermione knew she had to bite the bullet; it was the proper thing to do.

Cautiously, she looked up, "I did, sir" she said conjuring all the Gryffindor courage she had in her. "I cast the hex."

Professor Morrissey's eyes softened a bit at her obviously shaky answer, but still continued. "Miss Granger, do you know what type of bird you hexed?"

Hermione sucked in a calming breath and said mechanically "A snidget, a rare and small bird. Because of its startling beauty it was hunted down and was used as a snitch in the early games of Quidditch. Snidgets are now an endangered species. They are under ministry protection." Hermione hesitated before saying, "To harm a snidget or to even own one is a federal offence."

"Very good, Miss Granger." Professor Morrissey looked at the students sternly. "I take it that both of you are of age?"

Both Hermione and Draco nodded, realizing that their situation was much worse than they had anticipated. Professor Morrissey must have noticed their worried expressions, because he quickly said, "Don't worry; I am not going to have you two arrested… not yet anyway. See, at the end of this semester, the last day before you two leave, there will be an end of semester gala. Nothing too fancy, just a casual dinner and dance party where the students can enjoy before going off for the holidays. There will be ministry officials in attendance also. Your task will be to nurse Felix back to health by that date."

Hermione and Draco exchanged brief glances. So much for their semester avoiding each other.

Professor Morrissey cleared his throat and continued. "At the gala, Felix usually puts on a little…show for my guests. Just a harmless and ministry approved show, purely for entertainment purposes. I do not intend for this tradition to be passed up this year so see to it that not only is he fit to fly but also perform his usual tricks."

Hermione was really starting to worry now. She didn't know much about snidgets but she knew it would be no easy task trying to get it back to normal or to try to get Draco to cooperate with her.

As if reading her mind, Professor Morrissey addressed her problem. "I realize that this will take a lot of team effort from both of you. I have complete confidence that this task will help you understand what it means to be peers representing your school to the public."

Another hot flash of shame crossed Hermione's face and she even felt Draco stir in his chair.

After a moment of silence Hermione looked up to see Professor Morrissey staring at her and Draco very intently. Then as if coming out of a train of thought his eyes focused and he dismissed the students. Hermione, Draco and Adriana got up and hastily exited the headmasters' office.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A/N um remember me? Its been a ridiculously long amount of time u know but I kinda gave up/forgot about this for awhile and im just getting back into writing and everything soo yea tell me what u think. )


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

_It's not as bad as it looks._

_It's not as bad as it looks._

_Oh PLEASE don't let it be as bad as it looks!_

Hermione was in the Hospital Wing of Venificus Trellum. Felix was given a special room in there to help with the healing process. It was located in a tower room just above the hospital wing. There were windows all around, allowing much lighting in the day and torches for night. There were multiple Persian rugs concealing the stone floor, making the room seem cozier. There were curved shelves to fit the walls with all sorts of healing books and potions.

Felix was in a glass bird container in the center of the room. Hermione stared at the bird with nothing but repentance in her heart for how she had hurt it. The little snidget was lying in a crippled heap in the very center of the straw covered cage. It was no longer its original brilliant gold color; it was now a dull pale yellow. His eyes were shut tightly. Hermione held back tears as she watched him.

"How does it feel knowing you almost killed a poor defenseless bird?"

Hermione turned behind her to where Draco was standing. They had been in this room in silence for the past five minutes; this was the first time they had spoken to each other since yesterdays' duel. After a fitful nights sleep, both students had been sent messages to meet in this room at noon for their first day of detention/ figuring out how to nurse Felix back to health.

"Don't speak to me"

"Oh now you don't feel like talking? Where was this silence when you hexed the bloody Headmasters' pet?"

Hermione tried not to let the pain of his words affect her countenance. She chose to ignore him instead. She walked over to the bookshelves. They were stocked with many books dealing with magical creatures. She selected one that seemed would help in this situation and sat down at the desk at one end of the room. Draco took a seat at the desk at the other end of the room. They sat directly across from each other. The birdcage directly in between

After an hour of silent research work, Hermione almost forgot that she and Malfoy were in the same room. Almost.

"This is hopeless!" Draco said suddenly slamming his book and standing up. "All these books are talking about _remedies. _How are we supposed to remedy something when were not even sure what's wrong with the thing?"

Hermione looked up startled that he was actually mad about something that didn't have to do with their personal problems with each other.

Draco went to stand on front of the glass birdcage and Hermione went to stand with him. The two students stood and observed the bird. It looked so sad and weak. Hermione thought how sad in must be to be in a cage all the time. The cage was fairly large. In it was a miniature habitat. There was a tree in the middle with many branches and in the highest one was a nest for Felix. In one corner was a mini lake for Felix to drink from and the rest of the ground was covered in pretty green grass. It was the loveliest cage Hermione had ever seen.

"Ew! Get away from me!"

Hermione startled as she realized she had accidentally grazed Malfoys bare arm with her own. She hastened to pull away quickly but it was too late; Malfoy wasn't going to let it slide.

" Ugh! I'm going to have to take a 4 shower to get _you _foul mudblood stink off of me!" He sneered at her and Hermione felt that passion of loathing bubble up to the surface again.

He had turned his back on her and she saw with outrage that he was beginning to walk out the door. They weren't done with their detention! Surely he didn't think that she would do all the work on her own did he?

Yes. Hermione thought grimly. That's exactly what everyone expected out of do-gooder Hermione Granger.

Well people change don't they?

Hermione had her wand out before he could even take three steps.

"_Petrificus Totalus!"_

Draco froze immediately; his arms clamped tightly by his sides and fell down face first onto the floor.

Hermione walked up to him at a leisurely pace. When she got to him she turned him over roughly with her feet. She stood in front of him, her hand on her hips and an air of triumph. She thought she must look pretty daunting standing over him like this. She was wearing her Venificus Trellum uniform, the shapeless robe left long forgotten on the back of her chair.

"You actually think I'm going to let you leave so I can do all this myself?" Hermione asked hatefully. She looked down at him spitefully and whipped her wand over him. "Get up!" She snapped, as if he was lying there out of his own accord. Draco instantly flew up into the air to hover above her.

"Oooh. Now isn't this a familiar predicament?" she said almost teasingly. Draco's eyes widened in his frozen face as he realized what she meant. Hermione reveled in his mute horror as she stepped a bit closer to his drifting body.

"So you want to know what hex I used on the snidget?" Hermione asked innocently. "Well Malfoy, I am surprised that you did not notice that I took a leaf out of your book and decided to play…dirty."

Hermione paid very close attention to Draco's eyes to read his emotions. He was scared and confused. Perfect.

"Aw, you don't know what I am talking about do you? Well that's quite alright. It not like I expected you to, what with you being stupider than most primates and all."

Hermione twirled her wand around in her hands. The feeling of power was rushing through her veins, giving her a delicious feeling of satisfaction. Hermione's eyes snapped back up to Draco's with vicious thoughts playing in her head. She obviously still needed to show him that he couldn't push her around.

"Well since you obviously don't have the wit to figure it out by yourself I'll spell it out for you. The spell I used was Dark Magic. Admittedly it wasn't the worse spell I could think of to use on you, if I did that believe me you'd be dead right now." Hermione paused enjoying how Draco's eyes were darting around the room, as if hoping someone would come to his rescue. Yea right.

"It took some really quick thinking to dodge that spell didn't it? Just think, if you hadn't you wouldn't be in this situation and I wouldn't get to see the look in your eyes when I did this…"

Draco knew it was coming and had just enough time to close his eyes against the impact of her hex."

"_Recendy!"_

The pain was excruciating. Draco felt his skin rip in slashes all up his arms, legs and chest. He could barely see the cuts begin to drip where his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. His eyes went back to Hermione's but she wasn't staring back at him anymore. She was staring at his blood drenched arms.

"It has an interesting effect, this hex." Hermione said, her eyes never leaving the blood that was now staining his shirt. "It will start feeling like your wounds are on fire in about a second."

Sure enough Draco's eyes shut against the stinging pain that was beginning to unfold in his veins.

Hermione stared at his pain filled petrified form and loved every second of his agony, but there was one more step to completing her revenge. Without giving herself a chance to think about it she lowered her head to his arms and took a swift taste of his blood.

Draco's eyes flew open but he could only stare as he realized that the roles had been reversed and now it was him withering in helpless pain while the witch with the power lapped up at his blood.

Hermione pulled back from Draco's arms. She eyed his blood drenched shirt and with a flick of her wand it flew open. The bleeding was less severe here. The lines of blood left streaks of scarlet across Draco's pale chest. Hermione slowly lick up the streaks working her way to the top of his neck. She looked up to meet his eyes. Draco's previously grey eyes were almost black now; almost as dark as they eyes that were staring back at him

Hermione leaned into his face until they were a breath apart. Then she spat his blood onto his face.

"Who has the dirty blood now?"

Draco felt himself hit the floor again. He fell at an angle where he could just see Hermione walk out of the room and slam the door behind her.


	13. Chapter 13

Hermione was on her way to class. It had been two days since she had seen Malfoy. She hadn't seen him at all over the weekend and she was more than a little paranoid. She kept looking over her shoulder expecting him to hit her with some terrible curse. Loud noises made her flinch. Tracy and Adrianna were fed up as well.

"Why!?" Tracy yelled. "Why all this hatred!? It's insane, you need to be the bigger person Hermione, or else someone is going to be murdered!"

Hermione sat on her bed listening dutifully to her scolding for the hundredth time. She just couldn't explain what had overcome her. She just _needed _to hurt him. She was compelled to.

Tracy lit up. "Compelled?" she asked Hermione. "What do you mean compelled?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, she had given up asking Tracy to stay out of her thoughts.

"I don't know. It was just a thought" Hermione said, burying her face in her hands as images of her lapping up Malfoy's blood filled her head once more.

She was broken out of her disturbing train of thought at the sound of Adrianna rummaging noisily though her trunk. Before Hermione could even ask she came back and plopped a huge book on Hermione's bed.

"I cannot believe I forgot about this! It's all right here!" Tracy opened the book to a specific page and asked Hermione to read.

The book was entitled "Venificus Trellum: A guide into the gifted mind"

Hermione was immersed in it for at least an hour before Adrianna walked into the girl's shared bedroom.

"Hey, what are you reading?" She asked as she dropped down her broom as she had been out flying.

Hermione snapped out of the reverie she had been in for the last hour and looked up at her.

"I need to find Malfoy"

xxxxxxx

"You need to get out of this bedroom." Peter walked over to Malfoy's window and pushed the curtains aside. "Seriously, why have you been in here all weekend? Come on, lets go."

"Just because we are housemates does not mean we're friends" Draco said turning away from the light. He had spent the whole weekend at his desk planning way to get back at Hermione for what she had done. He was full of hate and could barely keep it to himself.

"Fine we're not friends" Peter said as he grabbed his broom and Draco's. "Let's be opponents then" Peter extended his hand, offering Draco his broom and Draco, needing the release of physical exertion, accepted it.

xxxxxxx

Hermione scoured the whole castle looking for Draco. She even mustered up the guts to knock on his dormitory door, but no one answered. She went back to her own room, but still had the overwhelming urge to find him and explain what she had found out.

Tracy saw how much distress she was in and decided to help. "Okay, I feel like this is becoming a trend here, but I'll find him for you…"

"I really appreciate it" Hermione said, looking more anxious than ever. She knew this conversation would be unpleasant, but she was determined to tell him what she now knows.

"Quidditch field, I guess he's playing a scrimmage game." Tracy said.

"Oh! I was just there. I'll take you!" Adrianna jumped up and grabbed her broom again. "Let's go"

Dread washed over Hermione as she got up to follow her roommate. Her last encounters with Draco seemed to always end in bloodshed and she was not sure if this time would be any different.


	14. Chapter 14

"Draco! _Draco!"_

Draco sped up and then dropped into another nose dive. He couldn't fly fast enough. In the last twenty minutes all he had been doing was flying recklessly. He decided to play the position of beater. He was taking a lot of pleasure from it. He hit the bludger with all his force, following it all over the field, hitting it one direction and then another as if it was nothing more than a balloon.

"_Malfoy!"_

He kept hearing his name called but couldn't be bothered to answer. He just kept hitting the bludger.

xxxxxxx

"He can't hear you" Adrianna said. She and Hermione were standing at the corner of the field looking up at Malfoy.

"Oh, he can hear me just fine" Hermione muttered to herself. She knew he was ignoring her on purpose and for some reason that fact just drained all the apprehension she had about this encounter out of her. She had to share the information she had with him _now. _

"Adrianna, I'm going to borrow this." Hermione said as she firmly grabbed Adrianna's broom and mounted it before she had a chance to over think the rash decision she had just made. Hermione disregarded Adrianna's startled response as she kicked off. She gripped the broom for dear life as she rose into the air far faster than she intended.

The other players of the informal game were all yelling at her in indignation for interrupting them, but she ignored it. She spotted Malfoy and flew towards him as best as she could.

She saw Malfoy hit the bludger and saw it hurl passed him and then saw his startled look as he realized who it was that flying towards him.

"What do you think you're doing?" He spat at her. He was overcome with indignation that she would blatantly ambush him so publically, feeling as if she had come there to rub their last encounter in his face.

"I need to tell you something! I wouldn't be here if it wasn't important!" Hermione said trying to stay calm when all she could think of was how far below the ground was. She tried to talk fast so that she could get her point across. She was acutely aware of how much anger she saw in him, and it was all directed at her. If looks could kill, Hermione Granger would be a dead woman.

"Have you completely lost it? Bugger off!"-

"Listen, we hate each other!"

"Oh, bloody hell. That's not breaking news you daft-

"Alright, ENOUGH. We're never going to get our powers of you do not _listen_" Seeing that she had his attention momentarily now, Hermione took a deep breath and started to explain herself, "We cannot go on hating each other, it's creating a block! For this magic to take hold of us we need to be at peace within our minds and therefore there can be no room for hatred. It's almost like a defense that magic has so no one who is evil or holds a grudge will be able to use it to carry out those hateful thoughts."

Hermione paused, trying to see if Malfoy was grasping the serious weight behind her words. He seemed unperturbed. She suddenly felt a wave of anger fall over her. "Do you understand Malfoy? We don't have our powers because you started this stupid war between us!" Hermione yelled.

Draco breaks out of his reverie at this, "Me? _Me?_" he snarls at Hermione with an indignant tone. "I did not start this! If there's anyone to blame it would be your little _golden boy_, Potter-"

"Leave Harry out of this!" Her hands tightened against the broom and her desire to be back on solid ground became overwhelming. She suddenly felt ridiculous for even being there.

The other players on the pitch felt the same way and were starting to lose their patience with the interruption Hermione had caused.

"Hey, how about you love birds get a room and get off the pitch, eh? We're trying to play a game here!" one shouted from right behind Hermione. She turned around to see who it was when another yelled, "Woah, this Malfoy bloke must have been keeping her waiting for awhile; she's tired of waiting for it!"

The catcalls only pubescent boys are capable of ensued "Are you going to give us a show then, sweetheart?" one cried.

Hermione blushed red and didn't know whether to correct then or just leave. She became flustered and distracted. A matter not made any easier when she saw that Malfoy was smirking along with the other guys.

Hermione's now sweaty palms pushed the tip of the broom downwards so she could begin descending. Her palms however slipped off the broom, causing her to jerk and swerve. Hermione panicked and started to lose control of the broom.

She shrieked sinking further into panic. As a result she started to hurl through the air, jerking from left to right.

Suddenly Malfoy fell from her view and she only saw blurs of colors whirling passed until everything went black.

Xxx

Draco watched in mute astonishment as the person he loathed lost control of her broom. He could have helped her, but he was still processing the news she had just broke to him.

_I can't grow into my powers because I hate this mudblood? How is that fair? Other people hate mudbloods without such a huge consequence on their shoulders…_

Draco was stuck in these thoughts as Hermione whirled through the air. Draco, being a skilled flyer and used to being associated with those whose skills matched or surpassed his, figured she would pull herself together and gain control of her broom quick enough. But that was not the case; Hermione fell into a deeper spiral and was very obviously headed for a disastrous crash.

Draco realized only a second too late that she was not going to save herself. Before he could point his broom toward her to fly down to save her, she had crashed into the ground.

Draco and Adrianna rushed to her. Hermione was lying face down in the middle of the Quidditch pitch. The broom and her body were bent into an impossible angle.

Draco was aware of Adrianna screaming but he could not understand what she was saying. He reached down and turned her over carefully. She was passed out, ghost white and a stream of blood was gushing out from an open wound at the crook of her neck.

"Save her!" Adrianna was screaming ear-piercingly at him. She knelt by Hermione, covering the wound with her hand trying to stop the stream and prevent her from bleeding out.

_Save her? What can I do? _Draco thought, staring blankly from Hermione back to Adrianna. He felt as though an hour had passed, but it had only been moments since she had snapped her neck from the impact.

_Why would I even save her? I hate her… but that's the rubbish she was going on about earlier isn't it? _Draco halted this stream of thought remembering why Hermione was there in the first place and what she had said.

Draco suddenly looked down into Hermione's unseeing eyes. His body started moving, but not out of its own accord. He gently pushed Adrianna out of the way. Draco put one hand on Hermione's head and the other on her heart. A white light first emitted from his open palm and then glowed brighter until it filled his whole vision. As the white light receded, so did the rest of Draco's vision.


End file.
